Department for Transport

Emirates Airlines: Etihad Airways

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential effect on (a) prices of flights connecting to the UK and (b) competitiveness in the international aviation market of the proposed merger of the Emirates and Etihad airlines.

Jesse Norman: The Department has not completed any work on the prices of flights connecting to the UK or on the competitiveness in the international aviation market of the proposed merger of the (non-UK owned) Emirates and Etihad airlines.

Department for Transport: Social Media

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much his Department has spent on promoted content on (a) Twitter, (b) Facebook and (c) Instagram in each month since June 2017.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: Digital advertising is a cost-effective way for the Government to share important information the public needs to be aware of. A large proportion of the Department’s social media spend is on our iconic and highly successful Think! road safety campaign, which has contributed to a significant fall in the number of people killed or seriously injured on our roads since 2000. The Department for Transport and its Executive Agencies have spent £283,646 on promoted activity with these platforms since June 2017 through its media buying agency Carat, which amounts to approximately 0.0945% of overall annual communications spend across Government this year. Ad hoc spend may not be included in this amount.

Road Traffic Offences

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of undertaking a review of the effectiveness of driving (a) offences and (b) penalties.

Jesse Norman: The Government continues to keep offences and penalties under review to ensure that the courts are able to deal with driving offences appropriately and proportionately. The Government also recognises that there are concerns about sentencing for driving offences. In October 2017, the Ministry of Justice published its response to a consultation on driving offences and penalties relating to causing death or serious injury. The response confirmed proposals to increase the maximum penalty for the offences of causing death by dangerous driving and causing death by careless driving whilst under the influence of drink or drugs, from 14 years to life and to create a new offence of causing serious injury by careless driving. Proposals for changes in the law will be brought forward as soon as parliamentary time allows.

Electric Vehicles

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department undertook an impact assessment of the effect on demand for electric vehicles in advance of the decision to reduce funding for the plug-in car grant.

Jesse Norman: For the last seven years, the Plug-in Car Grant (PICG) has provided a discount for over 160,000 new ultra-low emission vehicles. Following a review of the grant the Government announced reduced rates earlier this month, while introducing a new scheme to support the take-up of e-cargo bikes.Among other things, the review evaluated the impact of reducing grant rates on vehicle sales using a leading consumer-choice model. This model estimates how consumers will react to an increase in the price of ultra-low emission vehicles.The recent announcement will support the purchase of the next 35,000 of the cleanest vehicles.

Department for Transport: Contracts

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether gagging clauses have been used in contracts between his Department and charities, voluntary sector organisations, social enterprises or companies with the intention of stopping any criticism of Ministers of his Department.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: The information below covers the central Department for Transport and four executive agencies as follows: Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA)Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA)Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA)Vehicle Certification Agency (VCA)  We do not place ‘gagging orders’ but we do require contractors (and their employees and sub-contractors) to seek prior approval of any media engagement regarding the contract itself. By way of background – see Condition E5 at https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/657713/general-conditions-of-contract-for-services.pdf

London North Eastern Railway

John Grogan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the timetable for LNER will include seven direct trains per day between Bradford and London on the east coast line from May 2019.

Joseph Johnson: LNER is currently working with its industry partners to introduce extra services as soon as possible, including the Bradford services, and the industry is reviewing proposed changes for the May 2019 timetable.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Post Offices

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions his Department has had with representatives of the Post Office on ensuring the size and accessibility of the branch network.

Kelly Tolhurst: In our 2017 Manifesto we committed to safeguarding a Post Office network of at least 11,500 branches and to protect existing rural services. The Government sets the parameters in which the Post Office operates and then allows the Post Office to operate as an independent commercial organisation.BEIS officials are in regular discussions with the Post Office and continue to monitor the network size.

Company Finance

Mr John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on supporting companies that have potential cash-flow problems after the UK leaves the EU.

Kelly Tolhurst: The Department continues to engage regularly both across Whitehall and with business and industry on the matter of exiting the EU. Regarding financial support for business, the British Business Bank already offers a number of programmes and support mechanisms to small businesses at all stages of their development. British Business Bank programmes are already supporting more than £5.2bn of finance to nearly 75,000 smaller businesses (as at August 2018). Through the British Business Bank’s Enterprise Finance Guarantee programme EFG a lender is enabled to extend credit to businesses which, while viable, may have insufficient security to otherwise secure credit lines to support their businesses; this can include revolving facilities, such as overdrafts, and can be a powerful tool in supporting SMEs needing working capital. The British Business Bank also supports a variety of cash flow finance options through its Investment programme, including unsecured loans to businesses through alternative providers such as debt funds and peer to peer platforms, and dedicated cash flow lenders who can advance loans to small businesses secured against their future income, such as invoices payable or future credit card payments. Businesses are encouraged to explore the variety of funding opportunities available to them and to visit the British Business Bank’s Finance Hub which can direct them to the most appropriate sources of support: https://www.british-business-bank.co.uk/finance-hub/. As negotiations progress, the Department is working hard to put plans in place that ensure businesses across the UK can easily access the information they need to properly prepare for our departure from the EU.We will continue to listen to businesses up and down the country through our regular engagements. In addition, we will continue to publish all relevant material on gov.uk. Businesses can register to get information on the progress of negotiations direct to their inbox by signing up to the DExEU stakeholder bulletin.

Conditions of Employment

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether her Cabinet have had discussions on the potential suspension of protections of workers' rights in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

Kelly Tolhurst: This government has committed not to roll back workers’ rights when we leave the European Union. This commitment stands regardless of whether there is a Withdrawal Agreement between the UK and the EU or not.

Insulation: Sales Methods

Nick Thomas-Symonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he plans to bring forward legislative proposals for compulsory training to tackle the way companies sell cavity wall insulation to vulnerable people; and if he will make a statement.

Claire Perry: There are currently no plans to bring in new legislation relating to selling to vulnerable consumers. Trading Standards Officers can already take action against salesmen who use misleading practices and aggressive pressure selling, such as those that might be used by a seller seeking to exploit the elderly and disabled. Since the implementation of the Consumer Protection (Amendment) Regulations 2014 consumers have been able to take action against such traders to get their money back. Beyond these regulations, my Department is working with industry to improve consumer protection for cavity wall insulation and other energy efficiency work by developing new standards and launching a more robust government endorsed quality scheme through TrustMark. This reflects the recommendations of the independent Each Home Counts review, which identified an important need for an independent, all-encompassing mark of quality that consumers can rely upon and trust. The new quality scheme will be underpinned by rigorous standards and a code of conduct to tackle mis-selling, poor design and installation. This is a voluntary scheme for registered business delivering to households under the existing Government endorsed TrustMark scheme, but Government wants to encourage consumers to choose these trusted traders and for business to get on-board. In future, we intend to incorporate the quality mark as a requirement of Government schemes such as the Energy Company Obligation (ECO).

Counterfeit Manufacturing: Electronic Commerce

Carolyn Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to prevent the sale of counterfeit goods on online platforms.

Mr Sam Gyimah: The Government takes the issue of product safety, consumer protection and IP infringement, including the sale of counterfeit goods seriously, and is working with industry and law enforcement agencies on several initiatives to tackle this issue. This includes meetings with representatives from online platforms online retailers, as well as campaigns to raise public awareness and build respect for intellectual property.

Counterfeit Manufacturing: Imports

Carolyn Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent estimate he has made of the (a) number of counterfeit electrical goods being imported into the UK and (b) the cost to the UK economy of such goods.

Mr Sam Gyimah: The Government does not have a central data depository estimating the number of counterfeit electrical goods being imported to the UK nor does it centrally hold data estimating the cost to the economy of counterfeit electrical goods. The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) Intelligence Hub collects and assesses intelligence in relation to counterfeit and unsafe goods. The IPO work closely with their partner intelligence hub at the Office of Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) to identify links between counterfeit and unsafe products, but neither facility collects data on quantity of counterfeit goods.

Counterfeit Manufacturing: Imports

Carolyn Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to prevent the import of counterfeit goods into the UK.

Mr Sam Gyimah: The challenges faced by the UK in managing the importation of counterfeit goods are significant. The UK Intellectual Property Office works very closely with other government agencies such as HMRC and Border Force to identify, and make use of, the most effective opportunities for intervention. The role of industry and rights holders in supporting this work is also a key part of the government strategy in this area.

Wind Power: Seas and Oceans

Mr Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 16 October 2018 to Question 175928 on Wind Power: Seas and Oceans, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of offshore wind’s classification as a Pot 2 technology as a result of the development of that sector since 2014.

Claire Perry: The current pot structure has been more than adequate in enabling the competition that has driven down clearing prices in Contract for Difference allocations.

Fracking

Mr Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will review the Government's policy on hydraulic fracturing for shale gas; and if he will consider in that review the (a) extent of public opposition to that technique and (b) the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's recent findings that significant decarbonisation must take place within 12 years.

Claire Perry: There are no plans to review the policy on shale gas, it remains the Government’s view that there are potentially substantial benefits from the safe and sustainable exploration and development of our onshore shale gas resources. Wave 25 of the Public Attitude tracker from April 2018 showed that 64% of people either supported or were neither in support or opposition to shale gas developments in the UK. The Government remains committed to decarbonising the economy. Natural gas still meets a third of our energy demand and can have a long-term role – particularly alongside the development of carbon capture, utilisation and storage – which is compatible with our climate change targets as we transition to a low carbon economy.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Hong Kong: Politics and Government

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to the decision by the Hong Kong Government to deny a work visa to the Financial Times’ Asia News Editor Victor Mallet, what recent assessment he has made of the level of (a) freedom of the press, (b) freedom of expression, (c) the rule of law in Hong Kong and (d) Hong Kong’s autonomy.

Mark Field: We remain very concerned by the Hong Kong authorities’ unprecedented rejection of a visa for senior British journalist Victor Mallet. In the absence of an explanation from the authorities we can only conclude that this move is politically motivated. This undermines Hong Kong’s freedom of speech and freedom of the press, both guaranteed by the Joint Declaration, and the Basic Law, and increases the pressure on the ‘One Country, Two Systems’ framework. We urge the Hong Kong authorities to reconsider this decision. Confidence in Hong Kong’s rights and freedoms is an essential component of its future success.”We have raised Mr Mallet’s case with the Hong Kong authorities. Our most recent assessment of these issues can be found in the latest edition of HMG’s Six Monthly Report, published on 6 September.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Social Media

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how much his Department has spent on promoted content on (a) Twitter, (b) Facebook and (c) Instagram in each month since June 2017.

Mark Field: Digital advertising is a cost-effective way for the government to recruit nurses, promote blood donations, find out about pensions and all the other important information the public needs to be aware of.The Foreign and Commonwealth Office spent a total of £106,526.24 with central Government’s media buying Agency Carat, of this spend £15,599.81 was spent on promoted activity with these platforms since June 2017. The total spend amounts to approximately 0.000355% of overall annual communications spend across Government this year. Budgets and decisions on expenditure are delegated to Posts and we do not hold complete data on promoted content spend overseas.

Israel: Palestinians

Rushanara Ali: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his Israeli counterpart on opening an independent investigation into the deaths of Palestinians at the border between Israel and Gaza in the last year.

Alistair Burt: ​I discussed Gaza with Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Hotovely and Israeli Minister for Regional Cooperation Hanegbi during my visit to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories in May. I stressed the need for an independent investigation into recent events, and encouraged urgent action to improve the situation.

Palestinians: Demonstrations

Rushanara Ali: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with counterparts on the UN Security Council on establishing an independent investigation into the deaths of Palestinian protesters in the last year.

Alistair Burt: ​Officials from our Mission to the United Nations in New York have discussed the need for an independent investigation with their counterparts at the UN. The UK has also called directly on Israel to carry out a transparent investigation into the Israeli Defence Forces’ conduct at the border fence and to demonstrate how this will achieve a sufficient level of independence. We also encourage the parties to engage constructively with the Human Rights Council Commission of Enquiry, and urge that it be as independent, transparent and balanced as possible in its approach.

Cameroon: Human Rights

Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the merits of the recommendations made in the recent report by Amnesty International on violence and human rights violations in Anglophone Cameroon; and if he will discuss those recommendations with his Cameroonian counterpart.

Harriett Baldwin: We have noted Amnesty International's recent report on the Anglophone regions of Cameroon. We are deeply concerned by this and other reports of violence in the region. It remains incredibly challenging to secure access to the region to obtain an accurate account of what is happening on the ground. Reporting in social media is equally challenging to verify. The British Government wants to see an end to the violence, political prisoners released and a meaningful process of national dialogue to address the core issues. All parties have a responsibility to work for peace and stability and to use only legal and peaceful means to voice grievances.

USA: Palestinians

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his counterpart in the US Administration on the decision to close the Palestinian diplomatic mission in Washington.

Alistair Burt: The US' decision to close the Palestinian diplomatic mission in Washington is a matter for the US authorities.

Occupied Territories

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to support the work of the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in examining recent events in the West Bank and Gaza.

Alistair Burt: The International Criminal Court Prosecutor has been conducting a Preliminary Examination into the situation in Palestine since 2015. We respect her independence in this matter.

Middle East: Refugees

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his US counterpart on the (a) definition and (b) status of refugees in the Middle East.

Alistair Burt: The Foreign Secretary maintains a regular dialogue with his US counterpart on Middle East issues, and discussed the US plan to withdraw funding for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) with the Special Advisor to the US President, Jared Kushner, on 22 August. I also discussed these concerns with the US President’s Middle East Envoy, Jason Greenblatt, on 28 September. Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials routinely discuss with their US counterparts the status of refugees in the Middle East. The UK is clear that there needs to be a just, fair, agreed and realistic settlement for Palestinian refugees.

Prisoners: British Nationals Abroad

Robert Halfon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what estimate his Department has made of the number of UK citizens incarcerated in prisons abroad.

Harriett Baldwin: As of May 2018, we are aware of 2,325 British nationals in detention in 114 countries abroad. This can include British Nationals in immigration detention, in police custody, on remand awaiting trial, and sentenced prisoners. The length of custodial sentence being served by individuals ranges widely, from very short periods up to life imprisonment.

Sri Lanka: Human Rights

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with (a) his Sri Lankan counterpart and (b) the UK Permanent Representative at the UN on the implementation on UNHRC Resolution 34/1.

Mark Field: During my visit to Colombo in early October 2018, I raised with Foreign Minister Marapana and other Ministers the importance of the Sri Lankan government implementing in full its commitments under UN Human Rights Council Resolution 34/1 and 30/1. I encouraged accelerated progress towards fulfilling these commitments, in particular on national accountability and truth-seeking mechanisms, and the development of new counter-terrorism legislation in line with international human rights standards. I was pleased to see that following my visit the Sri Lankan parliament has passed a bill to establish an Office of Reparations. I look forward to seeing this implemented in the near future.We are in regular contact with the UK Permanent Representative at the UN Human Rights Council, where Sri Lanka remains a priority. Lord Ahmad spoke at the September opening of the Human Rights Council in Geneva encouraging further implementation of Sri Lanka's commitments within the areas of devolution through constitutional reform, truth-seeking and accountability.

Torture

Crispin Blunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether it is his policy to (a) reassess UK security (i) assistance to and (ii) co-operation with Governments that appoint individuals accused of involvement in torture to senior positions on security bodies and (b) withdraw that assistance when those allegations are deemed credible.

Mark Field: The Government applies its Overseas Security and Justice Assistance (OSJA) guidance to any assistance provided overseas. The OSJA guidance is a framework to assess and manage any human rights risks associated with UK assistance . OSJA assessments completed for specific projects or cases are regularly reviewed and updated in line with developments in the country concerned. This informs how the assistance is pursued.In countries where Her Majesty's Government is regularly engaged in security and justice assistance, the relevant diplomatic mission maintains an in-country assessment and provides it to all interested departments or agencies to aid them and provide consistency in the OSJA process.The OSJA guidance was updated in January 2017. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office engaged with a number of human rights organisations (including members of the Foreign Secretary's Advisory Group on Human Rights), as part of the revision. I am confident that the new OSJA process remains the most comprehensive and demanding tool of its type anywhere in the world.

Bahrain: Detainees

Sir Henry Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many times the Government has raised with the Bahraini authorities the issue of Bahraini female detainees being raped whilst imprisoned.

Alistair Burt: The UK has an open dialogue with the Government of Bahrain which allows us to raise issues of concern at a senior level both in London and Manama. Where we have been made aware of allegations we raise them in accordance with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's guidance on reporting such allegations.We continue to encourage anybody with concerns about treatment in detention to report them to the appropriate oversight body. We also encourage the oversight bodies to carry out swift and thorough investigations into any such claims.

Nabeel Rajab

Sir Henry Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations he has made to the Bahraini authorities on the release of Nabeel Rajab.

Alistair Burt: The honorable member will recall that I expressed my concerns on the sentence given to Mr Rajab in my written statement of 21 February. I also reiterated the UK's call for Bahrain to protect freedom of expression for all its citizens, in line with international obligations.The British Embassy in Bahrain has closely monitored the trials of Mr Rajab. Officials from the Embassy regularly attend Mr Rajab's court hearings, including the handing down of the latest appeal verdict. We have raised the case at senior levels as part of the UK's ongoing open dialogue with Bahrain. I am aware that there is now an opportunity for Mr Rajab's legal team to apply for an appeal through the judicial system. My officials will continue to monitor the case closely.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether the British Embassy in Tehran has (a) issued any protest over the Iranian prison authorities' denial of medical access and neurological care to Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe following her collapse in prison and (b) received any explanation from the Iranian Authorities on their denial of neurological care for Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether the British Embassy in Tehran has (a) requested to visit Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe since her collapse in prison and (b) made an assessment of her health since that collapse.

Alistair Burt: We remain deeply concerned about all our dual nationals detained in Iran, including Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe. We are in close touch with her family and continue to urgently raise any welfare concerns with the Iranian authorities as soon as we become aware of them. We will continue to raise Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe's case, as well as our other consular cases, with the Iranian government at every opportunity, including requesting consular access. We will continue to take action in line with what we believe will produce the best outcomes in their cases. ​

Armed Conflict

Ian Murray: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of his Department's strategy on the protection of civilians in armed conflict.

Ian Murray: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will take steps to update the Government's strategy on the  protection of civilians in armed conflict.

Ian Murray: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of his Department's strategy on the protection of civilians in armed conflict on the protection of children in conflict.

Mark Field: ​The principles of the 2010 Protection of Civilians Strategy continue to guide our work and we consistently review our cross-Government approach. We aim to address the growing challenges of protecting civilians affected by conflict through political engagement, strengthening accountability, peace support operations, ensuring respect for international humanitarian law in UK military operations, strengthening state and non-state capacity, humanitarian action, and offering refuge to those in need of protection. The continuing evolution of our approach is demonstrated by the UK's endorsement, in April 2018, of the Safe Schools Declaration which supports the protection and continuation of education in armed conflict.International humanitarian law (IHL) provides a robust legal framework for the protection of all civilians, including children. The UK works closely with states and NGOs to promote compliance with this legal framework. We regularly call on states and non-state actors engaged in armed conflict to respect IHL and act in accordance with their obligations under it.

Armed Conflict

Ian Murray: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to improve the protection of children living in conflict.

Mark Field: The UK is committed to protecting children affected by armed conflict, including ending the recruitment and use of child soldiers. The UK is an active member of the United Nations Working Group on Children in Armed Conflict (CAAC), which leads the international response on the issue of child soldiers and child protection.The UK is the largest single financial contributor to the office of the UN Security General's Special Representative (SRSG) for CAAC. The British Government has been funding the Office of the SRSG on CAAC for a number of years, and will contribute £100,000 per year for the next three years (2017/18 – 2019/20). Through DFID, we are the largest bilateral donor to “Education Cannot Wait”, which was launched at the World Humanitarian Summit in 2016 to protect access to education for children in conflict zones. DFID’s education programmes have long addressed violence in schools and its Education Policy published in February 2018 (“Get Children Learning”) commits to focus even more on this in future. This includes supporting children’s psychological and social well-being and promoting inclusive education systems which minimise the negative effects of conflict and encourage reconciliation.In 2018, the UK endorsed the Safe Schools Declaration as well as the guidance set out in both the Paris and Vancouver Principles which aims to ensure that child protection is an operational priority for UN peacekeeping missions. We press for the inclusion of child protection in peacekeeping responses through UN mandate renewals and resolutions. We call on other states to endorse and implement these instruments.In November 2019, the UK will host an international meeting on preventing sexual violence in conflict. One of the key focuses will be how we can better support children born of sexual violence in conflict, including tackling stigma.

Saudi Arabia: Human Rights

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will place in the Library the assessments his Department has made of trends in the incidences of human rights abuses in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia over the last three years.

Alistair Burt: ​Saudi Arabia remains a Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) human rights priority country. The FCO's annual human rights reports are available on the gov.uk website. Ministers frequently discuss human rights and raise concerns with the Saudi Government at the highest levels.

Cabinet Office

Institute of Economic Affairs: Ministers

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department has undertaken a review of the relationships between Ministers and the Institute of Economic Affairs.

Mr David Lidington: No.

Government Departments: Buildings

Justin Madders: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many personal injury claims were made relating to incidents in Government-owned buildings in each of the last ten years for which figures are available.

Mr David Lidington: The information requested can only be provided at disproportionate cost, as the Cabinet Office does not hold centrally information on the number of personal injury claims that were made for incidents arising in government-owned buildings.

Devolution: EU Law

Tom Brake: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when the Government plans to publish its proposals for the constitutional arrangements for devolved authorities in relation to EU law after the UK has left the EU.

Mr David Lidington: The EU (Withdrawal) Act places a duty on UK Ministers to report to Parliament quarterly on the steps the Government is taking alongside the devolved administrations to design and implement common frameworks, and on any use of the section 12 powers to temporarily ‘freeze’ devolved competence.

Contracts

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential effect of the UK leaving the EU on the ability of Government contractors to provide agreed services.

Oliver Dowden: The existing scheme of UK procurement rules, which implement the EU public procurement directives, will be preserved under the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 when the UK leaves the European Union, with relevant adjustments necessary to ensure legal operability. This will give legal certainty and continuity to businesses, contracting authorities, and employees, on day one of exit.

Cabinet Office: Contracts

Tom Brake: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether gagging clauses have been used in contracts drawn up between his Department and any charities, voluntary sector organisations, social enterprises or companies with the intention of stopping any criticism of Ministers of his Department.

Mr David Lidington: The Cabinet Office has reviewed the standard forms of contract it uses. There are clauses about interaction between the parties, how to protect the parties’ best interests and safeguard commercial and sensitive information which are long established in government contracts. These clauses are not intended to stop criticism of Ministers, the Department or its policies. Since January 2011, details of central government contracts above the value of £10,000 are published on Contracts Finder. Contracts published prior to 26 February 2015 can be viewed at: https://data.gov.uk/data/contracts-finder-archive Those published after 26 February 2015 can be viewed at: https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Search”

Cybercrime

Stewart Malcolm McDonald: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps the Government is taking to improve the UK’s cyber security.

Mr David Lidington: The 2016 National Cyber Security Strategy sets out in detail the Government’s approach to improve the UK’s cyber security. This includes a wide range of measures to defend our people, deter our adversaries and develop the capabilities we need to ensure the UK remains the safest place to live and do business online. One of the most visible elements of the strategy is the creation of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), to improve our prevention and response capability and ensure that citizens and business have the best advice on how to protect themselves. For more on their role, the NCSC’s second Annual Review can be found at https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/news/annual-review-2018.

Cybercrime

Jo Platt: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the estimated cost to the public purse was of the WannaCry cyber attack in 2017.

Mr David Lidington: It is not possible to estimate the cost to the public purse of the WannaCry cyber incident as no data was collecting during the incident on the cost of recovering data and IT systems or the cost on disruption to patient care. To determine the cost to the public purse would require collecting data from all organisations which itself would impose a disproportionate financial burden on them. The WannaCry attack was unprecedented in terms of scale and disruption affecting systems internationally international including several within the NHS infrastructure who fell victim due to basic vulnerabilities in their cyber defences. In their October 2018 publication on “Securing cyber resilience in health and care: a progress update”, the DHSC estimated the cost of WannaCry to the NHS being £92 million. The DHSC used a variety of factors (average number of NHS trusts involved) and categories (direct and resource) to estimate the financial impact on the NHS but this does not include a consideration of other organisations outside of the health and care who were also impacted. The DHSC report is available at the following link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/747464/securing-cyber-resilience-in-health-and-care-september-2018-update.pdf. Since the 2017 WannaCry cyber incident, a number of steps have been taken to sharpen incident response plans across the NHS, providing new and mandatory training on cyber security to all NHS personnel and increasing investment in local infrastructure to develop a more robust cyber security posture.

Cybercrime

Jo Platt: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many cyber incident reports the National Cyber Security Centre received in last 12 months; how many of those reports resulted in being classified as significant; and how many of those reports were assessed as being sufficiently serious to require a cross-Government response process.

Mr David Lidington: Over the past twelve months, the NCSC received in excess of one thousand reports of potential incidents. These reports were triaged and prioritised using our new categorisation process, working closely with law enforcement where required. As was recently noted in the NCSC’s Annual Review, between 1 September 2017 and 31 August 2018, 557 of these incidents warranted an enhanced level of investigation. A smaller subset necessitated a cross-government coordinated response. For operational reasons we cannot provide a more detailed breakdown of the figures.

National Cyber Security Centre: Finance

Jo Platt: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much of the £1.9 billion awarded to the National Cyber Security Centre in 2016 has been spent to date; and on what such funds have been spent.

Mr David Lidington: The National Cyber Security Programme is a £1.9 billion fund which supports delivery of the National Cyber Security Strategy 2016-21. A proportion of this spend goes to the National Cyber Security Centre to help meet the Government’s overall objectives to defend our people, deter our adversaries and develop the skills and capabilities we need. For reasons of national security, the Government does not provide a breakdown of how the £1.9 billion National Cyber Security Programme is allocated.

Electronic Government

Jo Platt: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many registered users of Gov.UK verify there were at February 2018.

Oliver Dowden: The number of GOV.UK Verify accounts (historic and current) is published on the GOV.UK website and is regularly updated.

Cybercrime: Industry

Jo Platt: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 18 October 2018 to Question 179329 on Cybercrime: Industry, whether the new minimum cyber security standard will apply to suppliers with existing contracts.

Mr David Lidington: The Cabinet Office is committed to work in partnership with HMG’s strategic suppliers on how best to apply the new Minimum Cyber Security Standard within its contracting arrangements. The focus will be to incorporate the standard into new contracts. We are however committed to raising the bar of existing practices and will work with government’s strategic suppliers to ensure full compliance across all contracting arrangements.

Department of Health and Social Care

NHS Trusts: Standards

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 9 October to Question 174063 on NHS Trusts: Standards, what assessment his Department has made of the underlying causes of the increase in deficits of NHS trusts, and if he will make a statement.

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 9 October to Question 174063 on NHS Trusts: Standards, what assessment his his Department has made of the accuracy NHS Improvement's view that the underlying deficit for NHS trusts at the end of 2017-18 is £4.3 billion.

Stephen Barclay: Holding answer received on 17 October 2018



Fewer trusts are in deficit, the size of those deficits are down (compared to 2015-16). But problems in a minority of trusts do still exist, and tackling that challenge is key to the success of the National Health Service’s plan. The underlying deficit for NHS trusts is exclusively an NHS Improvement-derived measure as set out in their NHS annual planning guidance. We agree that calculating a baseline position is a useful technique for organisations to build a credible plan for the year. As stated in the audited Departmental 2017/18 Annual Accounts, NHS providers reported an aggregate deficit of just under £1 billion in 2017-18, however this overall deficit, the size of individual deficits and the number of trusts reporting a deficit have all significantly improved since 2015-16 and the NHS financial reset.

Hospitals: Drugs

Jared O'Mara: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to ensure that there is a secure medicine supply for hospitals in (a) England and (b) Sheffield in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal.

Stephen Barclay: On 23 August 2018, the Department wrote to a number of pharmaceutical companies that supply the United Kingdom with medicines from, or via, the European Union/European Economic Area, asking them to ensure they have a minimum of six weeks’ additional supply in the United Kingdom, over and above their business as usual operational buffer stocks, by 29 March 2019 in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a deal. Since writing to pharmaceutical companies, we have received good engagement from the industry who share our aims in ensuring continuity of medicines supply is maintained for patients across the UK. The Department continues to work closely with these companies to ensure that their UK stockpiles of medicines are sufficient to cope with any potential delays at the border that may arise in the short term in a no-deal Brexit scenario.

Cannabis: Misuse

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will establish a duty for his Department to routinely monitor the potency of street cannabis; what assessment he has made of the implications for Government policy of the research by Kings College in (a) 2005, (b) 2008 and (c) 2016 on the potency of street cannabis; and if he will make a statement.

Steve Brine: The Government has no plans to establish a duty on the Department to monitor the potency of street cannabis. The National Crime Agency monitors the strengths of all illicit drugs seized, including cannabis. The Government has noted the reports from King’s College London on the strength of cannabis with interest and remains vigilant as to changing patterns of drug use, as part of its Drug Strategy.

Mental Illness: Carers

Rushanara Ali: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether support is provided for unpaid carers who suffer from mental ill-health as a result of caring; and if he will make a statement.

Caroline Dinenage: The Government is committed to supporting carers to provide care as they would wish, and to do so in a way that supports their own health and wellbeing. In June 2018, the Department published the Carers Action Plan (CAP), which sets out a cross-Government programme of targeted work to support carers over the next two years. The CAP highlighted the work that NHS England and the Care Quality Commission have been doing to work with frontline primary care staff, commissioners, carers and carer representative organisations to develop a framework of quality markers that can be used by doctors’ surgeries to demonstrate how effective they are in recognising and supporting carers. The framework sets a clear ambition to improve carers’ health and promote positive wellbeing and reduce carer crisis and family breakdown. NHS mental health services are available for carers with mental health needs.

NHS: Innovation

Rushanara Ali: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the effect on the ability of the NHS to adopt new technologies to improve patient outcomes of changes in the level of its funding.

Matt Hancock: We are committed to harnessing the opportunities of new technologies to enable the National Health Service to become the most advanced health system in the world. This is one of my top three priorities, and half a billion pounds has been made available via sustainability and transformation partnerships to catalyse the rollout of innovative technology to save more lives and support staff in the NHS. On 17 October, the Department published its vision for digital, data and technology in health and care, outlining what is needed to enable the system to make the best use of technology to support preventive, predictive and personalised care.

Air Pollution: Health Hazards

Rushanara Ali: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of air quality in London on children’s health.

Steve Brine: The Exploration of Health and Lungs in the Environment (EXHALE) programme is a London focussed study that identifies links between pollution and children’s lung health. The Department has commissioned a review on adverse birth outcomes and early life effects associated with exposure to air pollution. The Public Health Outcomes Framework 3.01 indicator, updated every year, provides the fraction of mortality attributable to long-term exposure to human-made particulate air pollution at local authority level which is 6.4% for the London region.

Haematological Cancer

Henry Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the initiatives announced by the Prime Minister on 3 October 2018 on early detection rates for cancer include blood cancer; and if he will make a statement.

Steve Brine: NHS England is completely clear that the new 75% early diagnosis ambition announced by the Prime Minister covers all cancers, and not just the 10 currently included in the Public Health Outcomes Framework (PHOF) early diagnosis metric. NHS England is keen to work with the voluntary sector organisations and charities representing some of the other cancers not currently included in the PHOF metric on how we best measure progress towards the ambition moving forwards.

Perinatal Mortality

Mrs Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when the updated version of the NHS Saving Babies’ Lives Care Bundle will be published; and whether that update will include explicit recommendations on reducing stillbirths in twin pregnancies.

Matt Hancock: The Saving Babies’ Lives Care Bundle is undergoing review by an oversight group consisting of nationally recognised experts, including representatives of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the British Maternal and Fetal Medicine Society. Upon completion of the review, and subject to necessary approvals, NHS England aims to publish an updated version of the Care Bundle. There are no plans to include a new, specific element relating to multiple pregnancies in the updated version of the Care Bundle. The oversight group concluded that inclusion of an additional element specifically focusing on multiple pregnancies would and add little benefit beyond compliance with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance.

Eating Disorders

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 15 October 2018 to Question 174679 on Eating Disorders, for what reasons he has no current plans to introduce a waiting time standard for adults with an eating disorder.

Matt Hancock: Mental health will be a core part of the National Health Service long-term plan, and the Department has asked NHS England to plan for significant improvements in access to good mental health services. The waiting times targets for children and young people’s eating disorders services were developed within the context of broader improvements to children’s and young people’s mental health services following the publication of the Future in Mind report in 2015. NHS England has recently commissioned a national review of adult eating disorder services. Data collected is being reviewed with stakeholders to inform NHS England’s understanding of the finance and workforce gaps in these services.

Health Services: Learning Disability

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what training NHS clinical staff receive to ensure that they are able to meet the specific needs of people with learning difficulties.

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what training NHS administrative staff receive to ensure that they are able to meet the specific needs of people with learning difficulties.

Caroline Dinenage: Employers have a statutory responsibility to provide sufficient numbers of suitably qualified, competent staff to meet the needs of the people using health services, including those with a learning disability or learning difficulties. The Learning Disability Core Skills Education and Training Framework, published in July 2016 sets out the requisite skills and competencies that staff need to deliver care and support to people with a learning disability. The Framework sets out the necessary skills across three tiers: Tier 1, knowledge for roles that require general awareness of learning disabilities including for administrative roles; Tier 2, knowledge and skills for roles that will have some regular contact with people with a learning disability and Tier 3, knowledge and skills for those providing care and support for people with a learning disability. Health Education England (HEE) is currently producing e-Learning materials to support Tier 1 learning disability awareness training. HEE also uses a workforce development fund to support the ongoing development of staff, with spending focused on priority areas, including staff working with people with learning disabilities and or autism. All nurses should receive learning disabilities training as part of their pre-registration education. In September, the Government response to the second Annual Report of the Learning Disabilities Mortality Review committed to a public consultation on proposals for mandatory learning disability training for all health and care staff, the consultation to conclude by the end of March 2019.

Diabetes

Mr George Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many emergency hospital admissions there have been for people with Type 1 diabetes in each NHS hospital trust in each of the last five years.

Stephen Barclay: A count of finished admission episodes with a primary diagnosis and a primary or secondary diagnosis of type 1 diabetes in National Health Service trusts in the years 2013-14 to 2017-18 is shown in the attached table. The primary diagnosis is the main reason why the patient is admitted to hospital. A secondary diagnosis is used where there are other diagnoses relevant to the episode of care. This data shows a count of episodes, not patients as the same patient may have had more than one admission episode within the same time period.



PQ179116 attached document
(Excel SpreadSheet, 43.55 KB)

Diabetes: Eating Disorders

Mr George Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many patients with Type 1 diabetes have been referred for (a) psychological support, (b) psychiatric support and (c) treatment for an eating disorder or diabulimia in the last 12 months.

Steve Brine: The information requested is not centrally held.

Diabetes: Medical Equipment

Mr George Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of patients with Type 1 diabetes had access to (a) an insulin pump, (b) a continuous glucose monitoring device and (c) other devices for measuring blood glucose levels in each clinical commissioning group area in the last 12 months.

Steve Brine: This information is not held centrally by the Department or NHS England but is collected individually by clinical commissioning groups.

Diabetes

Mr George Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people with Type 1 diabetes, in each Clinical Commissioning Group area have been treated fo (a) retinopathy, (b) diabetes-related podiatry problems, (c) neuropathy and (d) heart-related conditions in each of the last five years.

Steve Brine: Data outlining the number of people with type 1 diabetes in each clinical commissioning group (CCG) being treated for retinopathy is not centrally held. The National Diabetes Footcare Audit (NDFA) provides a measure of diabetes-related podiatry treatment contacts for initial assessment by specialist diabetic foot care services. Data including recordings of whether neuropathy was present at first expert assessment is attached. The NDFA began collecting data in July 2014 and the information provided is the latest data available. Data is only shown for a CCG when more than five first assessments of ulcer episodes were recorded in an audit year, or overall, for people with any diabetes type. This means the overall number of type 1 ulcer episodes shown for a CCG may be greater than the figures shown for individual years. National Diabetes Audit data showing the number of people admitted to hospital with a diagnosis code for a heart-related condition (defined as heart failure, myocardial infarction, stroke or angina) in the financial years between 2012-13 to 2016-17 is attached, which is the latest data available. The cause of the heart-related condition is not recorded in the data, so it is not possible to categorically state that it is the result of diabetes.



PQ179119 attached document
(Word Document, 69.54 KB)

Diabetes: Research

Mr George Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what research his Department has commissioned into integrated care models for Type 1 diabetes; and what the effect of that research has been on the provision of care for people with Type 1 diabetes.

Caroline Dinenage: The Department’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) has funded research into diabetes care: for example, a Comprehensive Longitudinal Assessment of Salford Integrated Care: a study of the implementation and effectiveness of a new model of care for long-term conditions and Improving outcomes for local people with type 1 diabetes mellitus. Information on individual projects funded by the NIHR can be found at the following link: https://www.journalslibrary.nihr.ac.uk/programmes/ NHS England has developed the diabetes transformation fund to target a number of evidence-based interventions which have the potential to be scaled up across England to deliver patient benefits, including optimal care provision, and to support the long-term sustainability of services.

Diabetes

Mr George Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people have been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes by (a) age and (b) gender in each clinical commissioning group area in each of the last five years.

Steve Brine: National Diabetes Audit datasets outlining the number of people newly diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in each year in each clinical commissioning group (CCG) are too small to be further split by age and sex. Tables showing detail the number of people who were diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in each of the five calendar years 2012 to 2016 in each CCG, and the total number of people diagnosed with type 1 diabetes by year of diagnosis, age band and sex in England are attached.



Type 1 diabetes 2012-16 by CCG
(Word Document, 58.41 KB)

Diabetes

Mr George Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance his Department has issued to (a) GPs, (b) GP practice nurses, (c) diabetes nurse specialists, (d) diabetologists and (e) psychology and psychiatric specialists on the treatment of Type 1 diabetes in each of the last five years.

Steve Brine: The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has published a range of diabetes related clinical guidelines for the treatment and care for type 1 diabetes patients:- NICE NG 3 - Diabetes in pregnancy: management from preconception to the postnatal period. Published February 2015;- NICE NG 17 - type 1 Diabetes in adults: diagnosis and management. Published August 2015;- NICE NG 18 - Diabetes (type 1 and type 2) in children and young people: diagnosis and management. Published August 2015; and- NICE NG 19 - Diabetic foot problems: prevention and management. Published August 2015. Further supporting material for the treatment of type 1 patients can be accessed at the following link: https://www.nice.org.uk/Search?pa=2&ps=50&q=Diabetes NHS England also issued advice in January 2018 to support a consistent approach to the availability of blood glucose monitoring systems and related technologies for people with type 1 diabetes at the following link: https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/blood-glucose-monitoring-systems/ Although this advice was targeted at clinical commissioning groups, consistent approaches will support specialist diabetes staff and primary care staff to effectively manage and support their patients. NHS England has issued a NHS Right Care diabetes pathway to support local improvement by defining the core components of an optimal diabetes service for people with diabetes which should support better value in terms of outcomes and cost. This is available at the following link: https://www.england.nhs.uk/rightcare/products/pathways/diabetes-pathway/ On 21 March 2018 NHS England and NHS Improvement, along with the National Collaboration Institute for Mental Health published the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies pathway for people with long-term physical health conditions and medically unexplained symptoms which provides evidence based treatments for people with anxiety and depression (implementing NICE guidelines).

Diabetes: Medical Treatments

Mr George Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of the use of artificial pancreas devices for the treatment of people with Type 1 diabetes.

Steve Brine: Artificial pancreas devices are an emerging technology. The Medtronic 670G, currently available in the United States of America, is also soon to become available in the United Kingdom. This is a hybrid artificial pancreas device that provides some automated insulin delivery between meals and overnight, but still requires manual insulin delivery with food. Some supporting data are available which suggest that the device can increase the time period in which glucose values are within target range.

Diabetes: Orthopaedics

Mr George Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) major and (b) minor amputations have been carried out as a result of (i) Type 1 and (ii) Type 2 diabetics in each Clinical Commissioning Group area in each of the last five years.

Steve Brine: Tables showing the number of people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes who were admitted to hospital for a major, and minor amputation in each clinical commissioning group (CCG) in each of the five financial years from 2012-13 to 2016-17 are attached. Diabetes type is reported as ‘type 1’ and ‘type 2 and other’ within the National Diabetes Audit. The cause of the amputation is not recorded in the data, so we are unable to categorically state that the amputations have been carried out as a result of diabetes. Data is only shown for a CCG when more than five people with diabetes were admitted to hospital for a minor, and major amputation. This means the overall number of amputations shown for a CCG may be greater than the figures shown for individual years.



PQ179124 attached table
(Word Document, 68.12 KB)

Audiology: Paediatrics

James Frith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many training places were available for audiologists specialising in paediatrics; how many of those places were filled; and how many such students graduated in each of the last five years.

Caroline Dinenage: The Department does not hold data related to the training of audiologists that specialise in paediatrics.

Mental Illness

James Frith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of people with mental health problems who (a) live in social rented property and (b) are homeowners; and what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government on the issues raised by those people and the medical staff who treat them.

Matt Hancock: The Department has made no such assessment. Ministers meet regularly to discuss a range of issues.

Dementia: Research

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to increase the level of spending on research into the causes and treatment of dementia; if he will make a statement.

Caroline Dinenage: The Government remains strongly committed to supporting research into dementia and the United Kingdom research community is playing a significant role in the global effort to find a cure or a major disease-modifying treatment by 2025. In the Challenge on Dementia 2020, the Government has committed to double spending on research by 2020. This is equivalent to around £60 million per annum and we have met and exceeded this to date. Much of the investment is for research to better understand the nature of dementia, to inform development of future treatments and ways to prevent the onset of the condition.

Children: Death

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many child death reviews which have identified trauma or external factors as the cause of death have been conducted in each of the last five years, in each local authority area in England.

Caroline Dinenage: The attached table, provided by the Department of Education, contains information related to the number of child death reviews that were completed in each of the years ending 2013 to 2017, where the cause of death had been identified as due to trauma or external factors. These data show the breakdown of the number of deaths reported at national, regional and local authority area in England. Figures lower than five for each area have been suppressed to protect the identity of the children.



PQ179175 attached table
(Excel SpreadSheet, 18.92 KB)

Department of Health and Social Care: Contracts

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether gagging clauses have been used in contracts between his Department and charities, voluntary sector organisations, social enterprises or companies with the intention of stopping any criticism of Ministers of his Department.

Caroline Dinenage: The Department has standard contract terms for procuring goods and services. These contract terms do not contain clauses that seek to prevent criticism of ministers.

Maternity Services

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information his Department has on the number of complaints that have been made on sales reps in maternity units in each of the last three years.

Matt Hancock: These data are not collected centrally.

Health Services: Weather

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has prepared a winter action plan for 2018-19.

Stephen Barclay: NHS Improvement published the plan for winter 2018/19 in September. This is available via the following link: https://improvement.nhs.uk/documents/3201/NHS_review_of_winter_2017.18.pdf

General Practitioners: Liverpool

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the ratio of GPs to patients was in each Liverpool parliamentary constituency in each of the past 10 years.

Steve Brine: An error has been identified in the written answer given on 22 October 2018.The correct answer should have been:

The ratio of patients per general practitioner is provided in the table attached. Figures are not available at a parliamentary constituency level; therefore figures have been included at the lowest available level corresponding to these areas, specifically primary care trusts prior to 2013, and clinical commissioning groups from 2013 onwards.



GP to patient ratio
(Word Document, 30.16 KB)

Steve Brine: The ratio of patients per general practitioner is provided in the table attached. Figures are not available at a parliamentary constituency level; therefore figures have been included at the lowest available level corresponding to these areas, specifically primary care trusts prior to 2013, and clinical commissioning groups from 2013 onwards.



GP to patient ratio
(Word Document, 30.16 KB)

Hospitals: Waiting Lists

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many patients left NHS referral to treatment waiting lists by reason of death in each of the last eight years for which figures are available.

Stephen Barclay: The information is not held centrally.

In Vitro Fertilisation

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether it is his policy that clinical commissioning groups should fully implement the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines on in vitro fertilisation.

Matt Hancock: It is the Government's policy that clinical commissioning groups should have regard to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guideline on the assessment and treatment of people with fertility problems when commissioning services for which they are responsible. The NICE guideline is evidence-based best practice for clinicians but is not mandatory. The availability of National Health Service funded fertility treatment is and always has been a matter for local determination, by clinical insight and knowledge of local healthcare needs and priorities.

Social Services

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which Integrated Care Systems have worked with the independent adult social care sector to prepare for the provision of services during winter 2018-19; and how much capacity has been identified in the adult social care sector.

Caroline Dinenage: Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) include local councils, who have statutory responsibility to commission social care for the populations they serve. The Department and NHS England would expect all of them to be regularly talking to and working with social care providers, given their remit to join up health and social care services. ICSs must identify adult social care capacity within their area, in order to meet the social care needs of the population they serve.

Mental Illness: Sick Leave

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the 2017 HSE Work-related stress, depression or anxiety statistics in Great Britain, whether he has had discussions with the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on its findings that mental health and stress account for 49 per cent of all days taken off work; and if he will make a statement.

Matt Hancock: The Secretary of State often speaks with Cabinet colleagues on a range of issues. The Health and Safety Executive as an agency of the Department for Work and Pensions sets standards and provides resources and guidance for employers to take positive actions that promote good mental health for all employees whatever the nature of their contract. In the Industrial Strategy, the Government set out the five principles that we believe underpin the quality of work. These principles are: overall worker satisfaction; good pay; participation and progression; wellbeing, safety and security; and voice and autonomy. Further, the Government also recognises the importance of mental health which is why the Prime Minister commissioned the Lord Dennis Stevenson and Paul Farmer, the Chief Executive of Mind, to conduct an independent review, Thriving at Work into how employers can better support all employees, including those with mental ill health or wellbeing, to remain in and thrive at work. It presented a compelling business case for employers to take action to improve the wellbeing of their employees providing recommendations for all employers to adopt six core standards that lay the basic foundations for an approach to workplace mental health.

University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust: Finance

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made representations to the Chancellor of the Exchequer on additional funding for University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust as a result of that Trust being classified as requiring improvement.

Stephen Barclay: Trusts are not awarded funding as a result of Care Quality Commission reports or ratings. In the case of University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust, we are not aware of any specific quality improvement funding requests. NHS Improvement would normally manage any quality improvement funding required for challenged trusts from within its own budget. If trusts need to apply for extra capital, the main source in the National Health Service is from internally generated sources of cash, which for trusts has to be within their Capital Resource Limit total issued by NHS Improvement. NHS Providers can also apply to the Department for a range of financing, generally loans and public dividend capital.

East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust: ICT

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will make an assessment of the effect on patient care of the failure of the Lorenzo software system at East and North Herts Hospital NHS Trust.

Caroline Dinenage: This incident is still under investigation and the East and North Hertfordshire Hospital NHS Trust is working closely with the East and North Hertfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group to assess the effect on patient care of the failure of the Lorenzo software system in terms of harm to patients.

Buprenorphine

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effect on access to Buprenorphine of the recent increase in the price of that drug.

Steve Brine: As a consequence of a supply issue affecting buprenorphine earlier this year, some suppliers of buprenorphine have run out of stock and the market price has been increasing since May 2018. Although supplies continued to remain available from other suppliers, we are aware that some may have struggled to support the increase in demand at short notice. The delivery issues were resolved quickly and the overall supply of buprenorphine tablets improved shortly afterwards. Since this period, the Department has remained in regular contact with all United Kingdom licensed suppliers of buprenorphine and has been working closely with them to monitor their supply position. Based on these conversations, we have been assured that the available supplies are sufficient to meet the usual UK requirements for this drug. The Department continues to monitor this very closely. The increased purchase price is reflected in the reimbursement price paid to pharmacies, to ensure that supplies remain available to patients. The market for buprenorphine has generally been competitive and we expect the supply situation to improve over the coming weeks which is likely to result in an increasingly competitive market.

Mental Illness: Children and Young People

Bambos Charalambous: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Answer of 8 February 2016 to Question 25146 on Mental health services: children, how many people aged 18 and under were admitted to A&E for (a) deliberate self-harm and (b) psychiatric conditions in England in each of the last three years.

Matt Hancock: The following table shows the number of attendances at accident and emergency (A&E) departments by patients aged 18 and under with a recorded first diagnosis of psychiatric conditions, those where the recorded patient group is 'intentional self harm' and those where both criteria appear, from 2010/11 to 2017/18. Attendances do not represent the number of patients, as a person may attend a National Health Service hospital on more than one occasion within the period. Count of A&E attendances for patients aged 18 and underCriteriaYear2010-112011-122012-132013-142014-152015-162016-172017-18Diagnosis - Psychiatric Conditions9,37211,68813,80017,40718,68522,09223,29327,487Patient Group - Intentional Self Harm18,29118,14417,82121,76921,35822,65621,54521,904Attendances where both the above codes were recorded1,4911,8242,1512,7002,8743,1583,2282,981Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), NHS Digital Notes:Attendances do not represent the number of patients, as a person may attend an NHS hospital on more than one occasion within the period.The recording of the diagnosis field within the A&E data set is not mandatory.HES figures are available from 2007-08 onwards. Changes to the figures over time should be interpreted in the context of improvements in data quality and coverage and changes in NHS practice. For example, changes in activity may be due to changes in the provision of care.

Infant Foods: Safety

Alison Thewliss: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans to take to ensure that the full range of functions currently carried out by the European Food Safety Authority in relation to infant formula are continued after the UK leaves the EU.

Matt Hancock: The United Kingdom has a long tradition of close scientific collaboration with the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) which we greatly value and hope to continue in the future. Contingency plans are being developed to ensure that if continued access to the EFSA is not possible, the UK continues to receive robust scientific advice, that barriers to trade are not created, and that consumer protection and confidence are maintained.

Gender Recognition: Clinics

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to reduce waiting times for gender identity clinics.

Stephen Barclay: Following public consultation, NHS England published new service specification1 for specialised gender dysphoria services in September 2018. The new service specifications will be used in a national process of procurement later in the year that will determine which organisations are best able to deliver gender dysphoria services from 2019/20. The new specifications also describe that in order to increase clinical capacity to meet increasing demand, and thereby reduce waiting lists over time, new models for delivery will be explored.  Note: 1https://www.england.nhs.uk/commissioning/spec-services/npc-crg/group-e/e10/

Cannabis: Prescriptions

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to allow patients to have access to NHS doctors willing to prescribe cannabis-based medicine in cases where their NHS doctor is unwilling to do so.

Steve Brine: NHS England expects that cannabis-based products for medicinal use should only be prescribed for indications where there is clear evidence of benefit, and in patients where there is a clinical need which cannot be met by a licensed medicine and, where established treatment options have been exhausted. The decision to prescribe these unlicensed medicines must be made by a specialist doctor – not a general practitioner. These doctors focus on one field of medicine such as neurology or paediatrics and are listed on the General Medical Council’s specialist register. They must make decisions on prescribing cannabis-based products for medicinal use on a case by case basis, and only when the patient has an unmet special clinical need that cannot be met by licensed products. In addition, a specialist on the General Medical Council Register should only prescribe within their own area of practice, and the decision to prescribe should be agreed by the multidisciplinary team. NHS England, the British Paediatric Neurology Association and the Royal College of Physicians will provide clinical advice to doctors ahead of the law change. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has been commissioned to develop more detailed guidelines for clinicians in the longer term.

Multiple Births

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will continue to provide financial support to the ISED-funded quality improvement programme delivered by the Twins and Multiple Births Association beyond the programme end date of March 2019.

Matt Hancock: No further applications to the Innovation, Excellence and Strategic Development (IESD) fund were invited after 2015-16 and projects funded through IESD are all scheduled to reach their conclusion by the end of the current financial year, as the Department’s funding to the voluntary sector has been reshaped. The Department does not currently have any open competitions for grant funding. Funding for future years is subject to business planning and has not yet been confirmed.

NHS: ICT

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much (a) revenue and (b) capital funding has been allocated to NHS IT programmes in (i) 2017-18, (ii) 2018-19, (iii) 2019-20, (iv) 2020-21 and (v) 2021-22.

Matt Hancock: Funding for the cross-system digital transformation portfolio of national health and social care programmes and live services is shown in the following table. YearRevenue £ millionCapital £ million2017-185283612018-195194972019-205414782020-21777248 The split of funding between revenue and capital reflects the mix of programmes and services that make up the digital transformation portfolio and the fact that, for many of the programmes, capital expenditure features more heavily earlier in the development cycle with the proportion of revenue expenditure increasing as programmes movie into their later stages and transition into live services. Funding for 2021-22 and beyond will be confirmed through the National Health Service Long Term Plan and the next Spending Review. Funding for local IT programmes or programmes not covered by the digital transformation portfolio is not included as this information is not collected centrally.

NHS: ICT

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the October 2018 policy paper The future of healthcare: our vision for digital, data and technology in health and care, what estimate his Department has made of the cost to the public purse of meeting national open standards for data, interoperability, privacy and confidentiality, real-data access, cyber security and access.

Matt Hancock: We have not yet made any such estimate. Digital transformation and technology services in the health and care system are currently funded through a combination of revenue and capital funding from central and National Health Service budgets. We envisage that this model will continue, with funding drawn from the next Spending Review and NHS resources identified in the NHS Long Term Plan.

Breast Cancer

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what (a) financial support and (b) other resources his Department has provided to Cancer Alliances for long-term planning for breast cancer care.

Steve Brine: NHS England provides funding, support and guidance to Cancer Alliances to ensure the delivery of improvements in early and faster diagnosis and quality of life for people living with and beyond cancer, including breast cancer patients.For this year, all Cancer Alliances have agreed plans in place for using transformation funding, focused on the delivery of NHS England’s 2018/19 Planning Guidance priorities. As part of these plans, Alliances will:- progress towards the 2020/21 ambition for all breast cancer patients to move to a stratified follow-up pathway after treatment; and- have in place clinically agreed protocols for stratifying breast cancer patients and a system for remote monitoring by the end of 2018/19.In addition to transformation funding, support that all Cancer Alliances will receive in 2018/19 to transform care for their cancer patients includes:- dedicated support from the National Cancer Programme’s analysis, evidence and data service;- support and assurance from NHS England regional offices;- a tailored programme of leadership development; and- a series of national events to share best practice and information across Cancer Alliances.More information about the levels of transformation funding received by each Cancer Alliance in 2018/19, and how they are using this to improve cancer care, can be found on NHS England’s website at the following link: https://www.england.nhs.uk/cancer/improve/cancer-alliances-improving-care-locally/nhs-england-support-and-funding-for-cancer-alliances/

Mental Illness: Equality

Paula Sherriff: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to extend Equality Act 2010 to include people with episodic and fluctuating mental health conditions.

Matt Hancock: The Government is aware of concerns that some people with mental health conditions have experienced problems in accessing the Equality Act 2010’s protections. The Government is therefore exploring a number of options including legislation to extend protections from discrimination in the workplace for people with mental health conditions, including through the Equality Act 2010. We will make an announcement on these issues in due course.

East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust

Toby Perkins: What assessment he has made of the correlation between the time taken to assess patients in A&E departments and trends in the patient handover times of East Midlands ambulance service; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen Barclay: We are clear that accident and emergency (A&E) departments must deliver timely assessments and treatment to avoid delays in treating incoming patients, including those arriving by ambulance. Intensive support is in place to improve A&E performance and lessen the impact of handover delays on East Midlands Ambulance Service. Performance improvement plans are in place at 11 hospital sites, with progress being closely monitored by NHS Improvement. There is still work to do, but significant progress is being made.

Flour: Folic Acid

Stuart C. McDonald: What progress he has made on implementing proposals for the mandatory fortification of flour with folic acid.

Steve Brine: The Government is continuing to review advice from our expert advisory groups on safe levels of folate intake. Alongside this, we will be issuing a public consultation on the issue of adding folic acid to flour. This will explore this complex issue in detail and allow us to take an informed decision on whether to introduce mandatory fortification of flour. We will announce the date for the consultation soon.

Foetal Alcohol Syndrome

Bill Esterson: What assessment he has made of the proportion of children born in the UK with foetal alcohol spectrum disorders in each of the last five years.

Steve Brine: Foetal alcohol syndrome disorders can have a significant impact on the early years development of children, their behaviours and their life chances.Public Health England collects some data on fetal alcohol sydrome, but we recognise that this data does not reflect the range of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD), as these are very difficult to diagnose. That is why we are engaging experts and those affected by FASD to explore what more could be done to improve our understanding.

Attorney General

Human Trafficking: Children

Lyn Brown: To ask the Attorney General, what the Government’s policy is on the bringing of criminal charges against children who (a) are awaiting a National Referral Mechanism decision and (b) have a National Referral Mechanism decision, where the charges concerned are linked to the exploitation in relation to which the referral was made; and if he will make a statement.

Robert Buckland: No criminal charges can be brought for any offence unless they satisfy the two stage test contained in the Code for Crown Prosecutors: there must be sufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction and a prosecution must be in the public interest.Where a child is awaiting a National Referral Mechanism (NRM) decision, a prosecutor may at that stage decide not to bring a prosecution if there is other independent evidence of their trafficked status and if the offence is not so serious as to require a prosecution. If there is no other independent evidence of their trafficked status, the prosecutor will await the NRM decision and re-review the evidence in light of the decision. If the case is awaiting hearing at court, an adjournment will be requested until the NRM decision has been made.Where a child has an NRM decision in their favour, a prosecutor will consider this to be persuasive evidence of their trafficked status and will not bring a prosecution unless there is other strong evidence to the contrary and the offence is so serious as to require prosecution.

Attorney General: Contracts

Tom Brake: To ask the Attorney General, whether gagging clauses have been used in contracts drawn up between his Department and any charities, voluntary sector organisations, social enterprises or companies with the intention of stopping any criticism of Ministers of his Department.

Robert Buckland: The Attorney General’s Office does not have any contracts with charities, voluntary sector organisations or social enterprises. The AGO has not had a “gagging clause” added to any contract with a company where AGO is a party.

Money Laundering: Prosecutions

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Attorney General, how many (a) prosecutions and (b) convictions have been made by the Crown Prosecution Service under (i) Section 330 and (ii) Sections 327-329 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 in each of the last five years.

Robert Buckland: Data on prosecutions and convictions is published by the MoJ and can be found here. A breakdown of prosecutions and convictions for money laundering is as follows: Table 1. Number of prosecutions and convictions for money laundering, 2007-2017 (1)(2)(3)Money Laundering20132014201520162017Prosecutions2,3492,0952,3071,9981,906Convictions1,2691,1431,3361,4351,347(1) The figures given in the pivot table relate to defendants for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe.(2) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.(3) A defendant who appears before both magistrates’ court and Crown Court may not do so within the same year, meaning for a given year convictions may exceed prosecutions or sentences may not equal convictions. Defendants who appear before both courts may be convicted at the Crown Court for a different offence to that for which they were originally proceeded against at magistrates’ court.

Department for Education

Pupils: Sanitary Protection

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the support that schools provide to girls who are menstruating.

Nadhim Zahawi: The Pupil and Parent Carer Omnibus Survey between July and August 2018 includes questions on the provision of sanitary products for girls in schools. The results of this survey will be published shortly. The government has put in place a series of arrangements to support girls in school who are menstruating. For example, the current statutory guidance for Sex and Relationships Education encourages schools to make arrangements to help girls cope with menstruation, including requests for sanitary protection. We are now making Relationships Education compulsory in all primary schools, Relationships and Sex Education compulsory in all secondary schools and Health Education compulsory in all primary and secondary state-funded schools. We are currently consulting on the draft guidance for these subjects which reiterates that schools should make arrangements to help girls cope with menstruation and sets out that puberty should be covered before onset as part of Health Education. Schools have discretion over how they use their funding and can make sanitary products available if they identify this as a barrier to attendance. As a government, we are also providing over £1.6 million through the Tampon Tax Fund for a project distributing sanitary products to vulnerable young women and girls in need in England. In 2014, the government introduced a new duty on schools to support pupils with medical conditions and has published statutory guidance on this for schools and others to follow. This guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/supporting-pupils-at-school-with-medical-conditions--3. This guidance does not specify which medical conditions should be supported in schools. Instead, it focuses on the needs of each individual child and how their medical condition impacts on school life. It is clear that pupils at school with medical conditions should be properly supported so that they have full access to education.

Basic Skills

Chris Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of which areas of England have the highest proportion of adults with below average functional (a) numeracy and (b) literacy.

Anne Milton: We recognise that more needs to be done to ensure adults in England have the literacy and numeracy skills that they need for life and work. This is why this government provides full funding for adults in England to enable them to develop their literacy and numeracy skills and to secure qualifications from entry level up to GCSE level.The Skills for Life Survey, which was published in 2011, estimated the literacy and numeracy knowledge of adults aged 16 to 65 in England. This includes estimates for regions and local authorities. The survey shows estimates of the percentage of the adult population with different levels for these components for England and each region. It can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/36520/region-2009-all_1_.xlsx.According to the survey, adults who have the lowest proportion of literacy and numeracy skills (with a L2 qualification or above) are in London and the North East respectively. However, this does not take into account adults who have English as a second language.We are working with a range of sector and research partners to improve the evidence base on the best ways to support adults to secure basic English and maths skills. This includes exploring innovative ways through the Career Learning Pilots.

Literacy

Chris Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to support adults without basic literacy skills.

Anne Milton: This government recognises the importance of English, both in work and everyday life. This is why we provide full funding for adult learners in England to secure English qualifications from entry level to level 2.To raise standards of adult literacy, we are reforming English Functional Skills qualifications, which are accessed primarily by adults. This will make sure that these qualifications are more rigorous and better recognised by employers.Through the Flexible Learning Fund, we are investing over £11 million to design and test ways of delivering learning more flexibly to adults with low or intermediate skills.

Department for Education: Contracts

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether gagging clauses have been used in contracts drawn up between his Department and any charities, voluntary sector organisations, social enterprises or companies with the intention of stopping any criticism of Ministers of his Department.

Anne Milton: The Department’s standard contract terms and conditions do not include so called gagging clauses.The Department currently operates a devolved contracting model where policy teams are required to involve the central Commercial Directorate in all major procurements. All major projects use the standard terms and conditions.The Commercial Directorate does not have details of contracts where they have not been involved. However, it is able to confirm that such clauses have not been used in any contract where they have been involved

GCSE

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of trends in GCSE results in (a) Coventry South, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England in the last five years.

Nick Gibb: Holding answer received on 22 October 2018



The Department publishes pupil attainment in a number of headline measures for each school, local authority, parliamentary constituency and region of England; these figures can be compared to the national average for all pupils. Headline measures for Key Stage 4 for each region in England for the academic years 2009/10 – 2017/18 can be found here:[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-gcses-key-stage-4.[2] Due to changes in methodology and headline measures, these figures are not comparable year on year after 2013/14.  The last five years’ Key Stage 4 figures for Coventry South Parliamentary Constituency, Coventry Local Authority, the West Midlands region and England are summarised in the tables attached. [1] Headline measures include GCSEs and GCSE equivalents.[2] For 2009/10 – 2014/15 select the ‘revised’ publication for 2014/15 and open the ‘main local authority tables’ and then table LA2 which presents a time series of the headline measure. For 2015/16 - 2017/18 the headline measures were changed they can be found in revised publication for each year, in the LA tables, in table LA1.



180635_KS4_Cov_South_Cov_LA_WM_Eng
(PDF Document, 22.25 KB)

Engineering and Physics: Vocational Guidance

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 15 October 2018 to Question 177683 on Engineering and Physics: Vocational Guidance, for what reason his Department is not able on undertake a comparative assessment of an area of responsibility that is devolved in Wales and Scotland; and what steps the Government has taken to ensure that best practice is shared between the nations of the UK.

Nick Gibb: Holding answer received on 22 October 2018



I refer the hon. Member for Newcastle upon Tyne Central to the answer I gave on 15 October 2018 to Question 177683. The Department has not conducted the specific comparison requested, but in developing policy on curriculum and qualifications, the Department routinely considers evidence about what works best in other educational jurisdictions, including the highest performing nations in the world.The Government is committed to sharing best practice and enhancing collaborative working on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) between the nations of the UK and has representation from devolved administrations on the Cross-Government STEM Board.

Teachers: EU Nationals

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate his Department has made of the number of teachers who are nationals of other EU countries who have left employment in schools in England in the last 12 months.

Nick Gibb: The information requested is not held centrally.

Knowsley Community College: GCE A-level

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 4 September 2018 to Question 167917, how many of the 60 offers to study A-levels at SK College Group's Knowsley campus for the 2018-19 academic year were taken up.

Anne Milton: The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) understands that the SK College Group made 68 offers to study academic A levels at its Knowsley campus for the 2018/19 academic year.The college confirmed to the ESFA that of these, 16 learners progressed to enrol at the college. Due to the low number, the college arranged for the learners to access A level provision on the St Helens Campus, providing additional transport to facilitate access.12 of the learners enrolled and are accessing A level provision. Two learners elected to follow an alternative Level 3 qualification at the Knowsley Campus and two learners chose not to proceed. The college has stated a commitment to continue to support the development of A level provision at the Knowsley campus and this will be offered in their prospectus for 2019/20.

GCE A-level: Knowsley

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many academic A-levels are being taught within the Knowsley Borough Council boundaries for the 2018-19 academic year.

Anne Milton: The information requested is not held centrally.The department does not capture information on the number of A level qualifications being taught in the current academic year. Instead, the department records the exam results achieved by students aged 16 to 18, at the end of their programme of study.

Ministry of Justice

Ministry of Justice: Buildings

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 3 July 2018 to Question 157090 on Ministry of Justice: Buildings, how many days each Minister of his Department spent in Petty France between 7 December 2017 and 7 January 2018.

Edward Argar: Between 7 December 2017 and 7 January 2018 Dr Phillip Lee MP spent 6 days in the Ministry of Justice; David Lidington MP 8 days; Dominic Raab MP 1 day and Sam Gyimah MP 8 days. Lord Keen has a dual role as Advocate General for Scotland and MoJ spokesperson in the House of Lords, as such, he spent 3 days in the department on Ministry of Justice business. All ministers are required to split their departmental time between 102 Petty France and other locations such as the House of Commons / Lords and, as such, departmental meetings and business are regularly undertaken at the House of Commons / Lords.This reflects the nature of Parliamentary obligations and legislative business. In addition to this, visits are often undertaken as part of Ministerial duties. The information provided is for days spent partially or entirely in 102 Petty France.

Ministry of Justice: Contracts

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether gagging clauses have been used in contracts drawn up between his Department and any charities, voluntary sector organisations, social enterprises or companies with the intention of stopping any criticism of Ministers of his Department.

Edward Argar: The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.Since January 2011, details of central government contracts above the value of £10,000 are published on Contracts Finder. Contracts published prior to 26 February 2015 can be viewed at: https://data.gov.uk/data/contracts-finder-archive Those published after 26 February 2015 can be viewed at: https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Search”The Ministry of Justice has reviewed its standard forms of contract. There are clauses about interaction between the parties, how to protect the parties’ best interests and safeguard commercial and sensitive information which have been present in government contracts for a long time. These clauses are not intended to stop criticism of Ministers, the Department or its policies.

CAFCASS: Complaints

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of establishing an independent external organisation to review individual complaints about the (a) performance and (b) service provided by the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service.

Lucy Frazer: Holding answer received on 22 October 2018



Cafcass is inspected by the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted), and was last inspected in March 2018. It was rated outstanding. We consider that there is no need to establish an independent external organisation.

Employment Tribunals

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many( a) successful and (b) unsuccessful employment tribunal claims for automatically unfair dismissal under sections 99-108 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 have been brought in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available.

Lucy Frazer: The information on how many unfair dismissal claims under sections 99-108 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 were brought to the Employment Tribunal could only be obtained as disproportionate cost.

Prosecutions: Greater London

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the (a) number of young offender cases that remain unresolved and (b) utilisation rates at (i) Camberwell Green Magistrate Court and (ii) at Bromley Magistrates Court.

Lucy Frazer: Holding answer received on 22 October 2018



(a) While HM Courts & Tribunals Service does not report under a heading of “unresolved cases” data on outstanding cases for youths are available. The count of outstanding cases can include new cases which have yet to reach their first hearing. The number of outstanding youth cases as at 30 June 2018 at Bromley Magistrates’ Court is 136 and 266 cases at Camberwell Green Magistrates’ Court. (b) The utilisation rate for the period July 2017 to June 2018 at Camberwell Green Magistrates’ Court is 77.3% and at Bromley Magistrates’ Court 99.7%. A review of listing is enabling Bromley Magistrates’ Court to accommodate transferred work from Camberwell. (c) HM Courts & Tribunals Service is undertaking enabling works to accommodate the caseload of Camberwell Green Magistrates’ Court at Bromley and Croydon Magistrates’ Courts. This includes providing additional courtroom capacity at Croydon and additional capacity for youth work at Bromley by creating an additional court room and improved youth case facilities.

Magistrates' Courts: Camberwell and Peckham

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of the closure of Camberwell Green Magistrates court on (a) the attendance rate at court and (b) waiting times between arrest and trial.

Lucy Frazer: Holding answer received on 22 October 2018



When announcing the closure of this court in February 2017, the Lord Chancellor assessed that operational efficiency could be maintained following the closure of the court. Analysis showed that with appropriate enabling works, its workload could be accommodated at Bromley and Croydon Magistrates’ Courts. These works include providing additional courtroom capacity at Croydon and additional capacity for youth work at Bromley by creating an additional court room and improved youth case facilities.The court remains open while preparations are being made for its operational closure. Once the court has closed, HM Courts & Tribunals Service officials will monitor the operational performance of the courts receiving the work of Camberwell Green Magistrates’ Court, including attendance rates and waiting times between arrest and trial.

Employment Tribunals Service: North East

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will provide additional resources to the Tribunal Service in the North East of England to reduce waiting times for universal credit and personal independence payment tribunal hearings.

Lucy Frazer: Holding answer received on 22 October 2018



We have taken the NE to mean all the tribunals that fall within the boundaries of the HMCTS NE Region. Cases are listed at venues throughout Northumbria, Cleveland, Durham, Yorkshire and the Humber. We have increased resources to the Tribunals following recent campaigns recruiting an additional 28 medical members and 3 Judges.

Magistrates' Courts: Camberwell and Peckham

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department has taken to ensure the efficiency of the processing of caseload at Camberwell Green Magistrates’ Court.

Lucy Frazer: Holding answer received on 22 October 2018



Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) staff at Camberwell Green Magistrates’ Court, and those nationwide, are trained and supported by managers to ensure caseloads are efficiently processed. Work at Camberwell Green Magistrates’ Court is monitored using performance targets defined by HMCTS and action plans are put in place when performance does not meet these targets. HM Courts & Tribunals Service is undertaking enabling works to accommodate the caseload of Camberwell Green Magistrates’ Court at Bromley and Croydon Magistrates’ Courts. This includes providing additional courtroom capacity at Croydon and additional capacity for youth work at Bromley by creating an additional court room and improved youth case facilities.

Legal Costs

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many Stage 3 hearings resulted in the Judge awarding the defendants costs in each of the last 24 months.

Lucy Frazer: The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Powers of Attorney

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the number of people who have made a lasting power of attorney since the choice not chance campaign ended.

Edward Argar: A Lasting Power of Attorney is an important document, enabling someone to appoint an individual of their choice to look after their affairs if they are no longer able to do so for themselves. In the period since the end of the campaign over 1.8 million Lasting Powers of Attorney have been registered with the Office of the Public Guardian.

Treasury

Government Controlled Companies

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 14 September 2018 on Question 171482 on Public Sector: Accounting, whether he plans to bring forward legislative proposals on (a) auditing the accounts of Government-controlled companies that are not audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General, (b) monitoring the accounting framework which those accounts are audited against and (c) the overall scrutiny of public spending.

Elizabeth Truss: The Government has no plans to legislate in these areas. a) As outlined in the Dear Accounting Officer letter of 17 January 2008 it is the expectation of HMT that the Comptroller and Auditor General is appointed the auditor for Government-controlled Companies. If they do not appoint the C&AG as auditor, departments will need to be able to account for their reasons for preferring another auditor.http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20080727043654/http:/www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/media/8/1/dao0108.pdf b) The accounts of non-profit making companies included within the Government Resources and Accounts Act 2000 (Audit of non-profit making companies) Order 2009 (SI 2009/476) and as amended by subsequent Orders must be examined and certified by the Comptroller and Audit General. Companies must comply with applicable requirements in the Companies Act 2006 and follow the financial reporting principles of the HM Treasury Financial Reporting Manual (except for public corporations that are not trading funds). Companies that have charitable status should comply with applicable charities legislation and where relevant, the Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) Accounting for Charities, issued by the Charity Commission. The HM Treasury Financial Reporting Manual is updated on a yearly basis in December by HM Treasury and the Companies Act 2006 is updated on an on-going basis by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. c) Public spending is scrutinised through the Committee system and further examined by the scrutiny of Parliament as a whole. In addition the routine publication of Annual Reports and Accounts as well as numerous other transparency publications facilitate scrutiny by the public and the media. The published Annual Reports and Accounts must comply with applicable requirements in the Companies Act 2006 and follow the financial reporting principles of the HM Treasury Financial Reporting Manual (except for public corporations that are not trading funds). HM Treasury are currently undertaking a review of the Annual Reports and Accounts including looking at the recommendations set out in the ‘Accounting for democracy: making sure Parliament, the people and ministers know how and why public money is spent’ report written by the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee.

Government Controlled Companies

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 14 September 2018 to Question 171483 on Public Sector: Accounting, whether he plans to bring forward legislative proposals on the parliamentary scrutiny of the accounts of Government-controlled companies that are not required to lay their accounts before Parliament.

Elizabeth Truss: Government controlled companies must comply with the applicable requirements in the Companies Act 2006 and follow the financial reporting principles of the HM Treasury Financial Reporting Manual (except for public corporations that are not trading funds). Government has no plans to further legislate in this area.The sponsor department of each government controlled company, in the first instance, will exercise oversight of relevant companies, through the monitoring of these companies. The sponsor department will either consolidate the entity in full or incorporate it as investments within their own group consolidated accounts which are subject to audit by the C&AG and laid before Parliament. Company Accounts are also accessible in the usual way from Companies House.

Government Controlled Companies

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 6 September 2018 to Question 171486 on Government Controlled Companies, whether his Department has granted approval to IMS Ltd (a) for its exemption from the full disclosures required under the 2006 Companies Act and (b) not to disclose publicly its contingent liabilities prior to its 2017 accounts being signed off.

Elizabeth Truss: HM Treasury does not hold any information relating to an exemption from the Companies Act 2006 for IMS Ltd. IMS Ltd is a commercial company and its published accounts identify provisions made for liabilities.

Tax Avoidance: Prosecutions

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many prosecutions have been made against people promoting disguised remuneration schemes in each year since 1999.

Mel Stride: This Government is committed to tackling avoidance in all its guises. A core part of our strategy has been to tackle the people behind these tax avoidance schemes. We have introduced legislation every year since 2014 providing HMRC with suite of powers to tackle promoters and enablers of tax avoidance schemes, designed to change behaviour and influence those involved to move out of promoting and enabling for good, with various sanctions and penalties for those who don’t. HMRC are using these powers to challenge all major promoters of avoidance schemes, including disguised remuneration (DR) avoidance schemes. This has resulted in several major promoters stopping selling avoidance schemes and HMRC have also, through court action where needed, required around 30 other high-profile promoters to disclose details of previously undisclosed schemes, enabling HMRC to take counter-action on these schemes much earlier. HMRC is considering whether some schemes involving attempts to avoid tax through the use DR may be fraudulent in nature. HMRC will consider criminal investigation where appropriate, for example, where there is evidence of fraudulent behaviour. Promoters of tax avoidance schemes have been prosecuted, leading to convictions and jail terms for example: In 2016 four men were found guilty of promoting and operating a fraudulent tax avoidance scheme, to defraud taxpayers out of £100 million.In 2017 a chartered accountant was sentenced to eight years in prison for setting up and promoting a number of fraudulent schemes to wealthy professionals.

Tax Avoidance

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the maximum amount of time is that HMRC provides to people who cannot afford to pay the 2019 loan charge.

Mel Stride: HMRC has published a specific arrangement for disguised remuneration (DR) scheme users who currently earn less than £50,000, are no longer in tax avoidance, and settle before the loan charge arises. In these specific circumstances HMRC will agree an extended payment arrangement of up to five years without the need for detailed supporting information about their income and assets. DR scheme users who earn £50,000 or more, or who require longer, may still be able to pay in instalments over periods in excess of 5 years if agreed with HMRC. There is no maximum amount of time that a person can have, to settle their avoidance scheme debt – any agreed payment plan should be affordable and specific to an individual’s personal circumstances. These payment arrangements will be tailored to an individual’s financial circumstances so HMRC will require more detailed supporting information. Anybody who is worried about being able to pay what they owe should get in touch with HMRC.

National Insurance Credits

Dr Rosena Allin-Khan: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent representations he has received on parents who have mistakenly omitted to claim child benefit and as a result lost out on national insurance state pension credits; and what steps his Department is taking to help those people.

Mel Stride: The Government has always urged families to claim Child Benefit to help protect their future right to the State Pension. Child Benefit claimants on a high income can then opt not to receive payments so they do not have to pay the High Income Child Benefit Charge. Families should still complete the Child Benefit claim form in order to qualify for National Insurance Credits and thus build qualifying years towards the State Pension. Parents are advised to do this on the Child Benefit claim form (which is included in Bounty Packs that go to new parents), through the HMRC helpline, online at GOV.UK and through partners such as Citizen’s Advice. The Government is continuously looking at ways in which communications can be improved further, both at the birth of a child and for existing Child Benefit claimants.

Welfare Tax Credits: Overpayments

David Simpson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the number of over-payments by HMRC to claimants in 2017.

Elizabeth Truss: The estimated number of overpaid tax credits awards in the 2016-17 tax year, as at 5 April 2017, was 1.57 million. Information on the numbers of overpaid awards for each tax year are published annually in the publication “Child and Working Tax Credits statistics: finalised annual awards, supplement on payments”  the most recent publication is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/child-and-working-tax-credits-statistics-finalised-annual-awards-supplement-on-payments-2016-to-2017

Children: Day Care

David Simpson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many parents in Northern Ireland applied for tax free childcare in each of the last three years.

Elizabeth Truss: The table below provides the number of parents in Northern Ireland who have applied for Tax-Free Childcare (TFC) in each of the last three years. TFC was trialled in 2016 and launched in April 2017.We are promoting the scheme across the UK, including a marketing campaign which launched on 10 September 2018, to increase awareness and take-up of Tax-Free Childcare. YearsTotal Number of Applications2016220171,03920182,093

Individual Savings Accounts

Damien Moore: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much has the Government invested in Help to Buy ISA bonuses since the introduction of that scheme.

John Glen: From the Help to Buy: ISA’s launch in 1 December 2015 till 31 March 2018, the Government has paid out over 196,000 bonus payments with a total of £157 million in bonus payments.

Public Expenditure

Justin Madders: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the total public spending per person in (a) Northern Ireland and (b) England has been in the last five years for which figures are available.

Elizabeth Truss: Per head spending for (a) Northern Ireland and (b) England for the five year period 2012-13 to 2016-17 are available from the annually published Country and Regional Analysis (CRA) of public expenditure that was released in November 2017. A link to the CRA is provided below:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/country-and-regional-analysis-2017Table A.2 contains the relevant per head information.

Financial Services: Fees and Charges

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will undertake a review of the operation of the Financial Conduct Authority rules to ensure a cap on excessive early exit charges since April 2017.

John Glen: The Government continues to work closely with the FCA to ensure there is a competitive, innovative retirement income market and that customers are treated fairly and benefit from appropriate protections. After the pension freedoms were introduced in April 2015, some consumers were facing early exit charges of 5% or more of the fund value. Consequently, the Government legislated for the FCA to introduce a cap on early exit charges, which came into force from 31 March 2017. The Government estimated that the 1% cap introduced by the FCA would lead to savings for consumers of £42.7m between 2017 and 2020. The Government has no plans to undertake a review of the operation of the early exit charge cap at this time.

Sanitary Protection: VAT

Stella Creasy: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 4 September 2018 to Question 167265 on Sanitary Protection: VAT, what the evidential basis was for the estimate made by HMRC that VAT on sanitary products raises £15 million a year.

Mel Stride: HMRC does not hold detailed information on VAT paid on specific products as this information is not required on a VAT return. Therefore, in some cases estimates are based on market research reports. In this case a report by Mintel ‘Feminine Hygiene and Sanitary Protection Products – UK – January 2018’ was used to estimate the tax revenue from sanitary products.

Credit: Interest Rates

Sir Mark Hendrick: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer,  whether the Government has plans to bring forward legislative proposals to ensure that payday lenders make individual assessments of the effect on people who have (a) gambling and (b) mental health problems of taking out a loan.

John Glen: The Regulation of consumer credit is a matter for the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The Government has given the FCA strong powers to protect consumers. FCA rules are based on the principle that money should only be lent to a consumer if they can afford to repay it. The rules set out what is expected of firms, and the sanctions if they lend irresponsibly. The FCA also has comprehensive guidance for firms when lending to consumers with mental capacity limitations. Firms should take reasonable steps to ensure that they have suitable business practices and procedures in place for the fair treatment of customers who they understand, or reasonably suspect, have or may have a mental capacity limitation

Credit: Interest Rates

Sir Mark Hendrick: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the Government plans to bring forward legislative proposals to prohibit payday loan companies from advertising their services on television.

John Glen: The Regulation of consumer credit is a matter for the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The Government has given the FCA strong powers to protect consumers.The FCA has introduced a tough set of detailed rules regarding firms’ promotions and advertisements, with the fundamental requirement that all advertisements and other promotions must be clear, fair and not misleading. Payday loan adverts are also subject to the Advertising Standards Authority’s (ASA) strict content rules. The ASA can ban irresponsible adverts, and has a strong track record of doing so.

National Cyber Security Centre: Finance

Jo Platt: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many representations for additional funding he has received from the National Cyber Security Centre in the last 12 months.

Elizabeth Truss: The National Cyber Security Centre receives part of its funding from the National Cyber Security Programme, which received a £1.9bn investment for 2016-2021. The only representation that the National Cyber Security Centre has made for funding is as part of the standard National Cyber Security Programme annual funding allocation process.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

Energy: Waste

Mrs Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what meetings he (a) has had and (b) plans to have with Rolton Kilbride on its application for a gasification plant at Hillthorn Farm in Washington and Sunderland West; and what the purpose was of the meetings that he has had.

Kit Malthouse: The Secretary of State has not met Rolton Kilbride Limited about its application for the construction and operation of a Renewable Energy Centre for the recovery of energy from non-hazardous residual waste at Hillthorn Farm, Washington, and has no plans to do so. He is currently considering requests to call in this application and propriety considerations prevent him meeting any parties with an interest in the proposal, as this may be prejudicial.

Social Rented Housing: Repairs and Maintenance

Rushanara Ali: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment he has made of the effect on people’s safety of changes in the level of funding for social housing repairs.

Kit Malthouse: Social housing must be safe and decent. Between 2011 and 2016 we provided a total of £1.76 billion through the Decent Homes Programme helping reduce the proportion of non-decent homes from 20 per cent of all social housing in 2010 to 13 per cent of all social housing in 2016. The Social Housing Green Paper considers if the Decent Homes Standard is demanding enough and delivers the right standards for social housing alongside other tenures. We will consider the evidence from the review to inform future steps.In the meantime, we are providing support so that social sector building owners can address specific fire safety issues. Government is funding the removal and replacement of unsafe aluminium composite material (ACM) cladding systems on social residential high-rise housing in England owned by social landlords. We will continue to accept applications from social sector building owners if required. We will also provide financial flexibilities for local authorities who require support to manage other essential fire safety work.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government: Contracts

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether gagging clauses have been used in contracts drawn up between his Department and any charities, voluntary sector organisations, social enterprises or companies with the intention of stopping any criticism of Ministers of his Department.

Jake Berry: Since January 2011, details of central government contracts above the value of £10,000 are published on Contracts Finder. Contracts published prior to 26 February 2015 can be viewed at:https://data.gov.uk/data/contracts-finder-archive Those published after 26 February 2015 can be viewed at:https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Search

Local Enterprise Partnerships

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, through what mechanism his Department monitors how Local Enterprise Partnership's spend money from the public purse; and how his Department evaluates the results of that spending.

Jake Berry: The Government recognises that each local area must be empowered to reach their potential in order to boost national productivity and growth. Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEP) play an important role in furthering this agenda. LEP performance is rigorously monitored through regular engagement with departmental officials, quarterly financial and performance submissions and performance reports.Every year the Department undertakes an Annual Performance Review with each LEP where it evaluates each Local Enterprise Partnership’s performance in key areas of strategy, delivery and governance. The Department has also conducted a series deep dives to review the governance, transparency and accountability processes and culture in LEPs in more detail.

High Streets Expert Advisory Panel

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how the members of the Government's panel on the future of the high street were selected.

Jake Berry: High streets are a crucial part of our communities. The Government is determined to see our high streets thriving, both now and in the future. We want to see vibrant hubs where people live, shop, use services, and spend their leisure time.That is why we assembled an expert panel to diagnose the issues currently affecting the high street. Chaired by Sir John Timpson, the panel is focusing on what local communities want from their high streets of the future.The panel of experts were selected because of their direct experience of high streets and town centres. The panel contains a diverse range of knowledge and expertise from across the retail, local government, community business, property and design sectors. The panel complements the experience of the Future High Streets Forum.

Planning Permission

Alex Chalk: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps the Government is taking with local authorities to (a) reduce the number of retrospective planning applications caused by breaches of planning control and (b) encourage people to submit applications in advance of works commencing.

Kit Malthouse: We are clear that unauthorised development is unacceptable and unfair to those who abide by the rules. Where people have made a genuine mistake, they are able to rectify the situation through the retrospective planning application process.Local authorities have strong enforcement powers at their disposal in the event that development takes place without the appropriate planning permission.

Care Homes: Insulation

Chris Elmore: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 25 July 2018 to Question 164527, how many high-rise care home buildings that are above 18 metres have rainscreen cladding.

Chris Elmore: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 25 July 2018 to Question 164527, how many non-high-rise care home buildings that are below 18 metres have rainscreen cladding.

Kit Malthouse: The Government’s Building Safety Programme is tracking the remediation of residential buildings over 18 metres with aluminium composite material (ACM) cladding systems. We are not aware of any high-rise care homes in our dataset.

Supported Housing: Mental Illness

Graham P Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to ensure the social housing system supports those with mental health problems.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: The Social Housing Green Paper recognises many landlords play a role that goes beyond their key responsibilities, which includes providing guidance to vital services such as mental health services. Through the Green Paper, we are seeking to gather evidence on the impact of the important role that many social landlords are playing.Social housing and more widely, supported housing, provides a vital service for vulnerable people, including people with mental health issues. Safeguarding provision and supply of appropriate supported accommodation is a priority for my department and we will continue to provide capital grant funding to promote new supply of supported housing.Our recent announcement confirming funding for all supported housing will stay in Housing Benefit, will also give confidence to the sector to continue to invest in new supply. We are also reviewing oversight arrangements for all supported housing. As a Government, we are investing record levels in mental health, spending £11.98 billion in 2017/18.

Emergencies: Planning

Mr Clive Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what discussions he had with (a) local authorities, (b) Police and Crime Commissioners and (c) non-governmental bodies before deciding to recruit for G7 Resilience Advisers: EU Exit Readiness and Response Support to Local Preparedness; what the estimated (i) gross and (ii) associated costs are of those appointments; for what reason his Department decided not to make a Departmental submission to the Treasury to fund those posts and their associated costs from resources allocated to EU exit-related activity; and what Departmental work will be displaced to fund that programme.

Jake Berry: It is in everyone’s interests to secure a good deal for both sides and we think that is by far and away the highest probability, but we have a duty to plan for the alternative. Government is doing the sensible thing and taking precautions as we plan for all scenarios.I have had no discussions with external partners about this recruitment to fill internal vacancies within our wider team of Resilience Advisers. The costs of these appointments, including salaries and associated costs are estimated at approximately £119,377.Alongside other government departments, my department is in on going discussions with Treasury about any additional resource requirements for Brexit-related activity.

Local Government: Devolution

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when he plans to publish his new devolution framework.

Jake Berry: Later in the Autumn we plan to publish a document that will set out our future approach to devolution, providing a framework that will give clarity to local areas.

Local Government: Devolution

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whom his Department has consulted in preparing its new devolution framework.

Jake Berry: We engage with local areas, including councils, metro mayors, and Local Enterprise Partnerships, regularly, including on the future of devolution.

Local Government: Devolution

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what the aim is of the new devolution framework.

Jake Berry: In line with the Conservative manifesto, we are committed to providing clarity across England on what devolution means for different administrations and how devolution can benefit communities.

Local Government: Devolution

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the new devolution framework will require legislation.

Jake Berry: It is not anticipated that a devolution framework will require primary legislation.

Local Government: Pensions

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the recent Court of Appeal judgement in the case of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and Jacqueline Lewis against the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether the new Institutions for Occupational Retirement Provision Directive will be applied to the local government pension scheme in January 2019.

Rishi Sunak: The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Ministry of Defence

Army

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) officers and (b) soldiers who have been discharged following the failure of a compulsory drugs test have subsequently rejoined the (i) Infantry, (ii) Royal Artillery, (iii) Royal Corps of Signals, (iv) Army Medical Services, (v) Adjutant General's Corps, (vi) Royal Armoured Corps, (vii) Army Air Corps, (viii) Royal Engineers, (ix) Royal Logistics Corps, (x) Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers and (xi) Intelligence Corps.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: Holding answer received on 15 October 2018



The number of Regular and Reserve soldiers who have been discharged following the failure of a compulsory drugs test and have subsequently re-joined the Army since January 2015 in the specified capbadges is shown in the table below. No officers have re-joined in this time. Data for earlier years is not held.  CapbadgeSoldiers re-enlisted Royal Armoured Corps10Royal Regiment of Artillery-Corps of Royal Engineers-Royal Corps of Signals-Infantry40Army Air Corps-Royal Logistics Corps10Royal Army Medical Corps-Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical  Engineers-Adjutant General’s Corps-Intelligence Corps-  Misuse of drugs in the Armed Forces is unacceptable and anyone who fails a drugs test can expect to be discharged. Note:Those who have re-joined will have done so after leaving the Army a minimum of two years earlier. Figures have been rounded to 10 to limit disclosure and ensure confidentiality. These figures are single service estimates and are not official statistics produced by Defence Statistics. ‘-‘ denotes zero or rounded to zero.

Ministry of Defence Police: Pensions

Stewart Malcolm McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, for what reason the enhanced effective pension age of 60 years has not been introduced for Ministry of Defence Police Officers following a recent requirement for those officers to comply with College of Policing fitness standards.

Stuart Andrew: Treasury and Cabinet Office Ministers have previously given consideration to the merits of introducing an enhanced effective pension age of 60 years for Ministry of Defence Police Officers, but have not been minded to make such a change on the grounds that this would conflict with a key principle of the Government pension reforms that increased longevity requires longer working lives.

International Military Services: Legal Costs and Pay

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how the Government-owned company International Military Services Ltd has funded salaries and legal fees since it ceased trading in 1991.

Stuart Andrew: Since 1991, IMS operating costs have been met from accumulated profit from business activities and investment interest.

Ministry of Defence: Contracts

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether gagging clauses have been used in contracts drawn up between his Department and any charities, voluntary sector organisations, social enterprises or companies with the intention of stopping any criticism of Ministers of his Department.

Stuart Andrew: Ministry of Defence policy is to use standard contract conditions to prevent the unauthorised disclosure of information for a variety of legitimate reasons, including protection of national security, commercial confidentiality and personal data. However, they would not stop criticism of Ministers or the Department as these conditions only protect information supplied in connection with or under the contract.Information on bespoke contract conditions is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Territorial Waters: North Atlantic Ocean

Stewart Malcolm McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent assessment he has made of the security of UK waters in the North Atlantic.

Mark Lancaster: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) keeps the security of UK waters in the North Atlantic under constant review, we consider the activity of both state and non-state actors. I shall not go into further detail for reasons of safeguarding national security. As part of NATO the MOD and the Royal Navy work seamlessly with Allies to keep our waters safe and secure.

Defence: Finance

Stewart Malcolm McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what his spending priorities are for the modernising defence programme are.

Stewart Malcolm McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent progress he has made on the (a) development and (b) implementation of the modernising defence programme.

Gavin Williamson: Good progress has been made on the Modernising Defence Programme and I expect to be in a position to share the results later in the autumn.

Military Aircraft: Storage

Graham P Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 6 September 2018 to Question 169313 on military aircraft: storage, (a) how many and (b) what models of aircraft are held in storage.

Stuart Andrew: Aircraft held in storage are part of the Sustainment Fleet which includes aircraft undergoing upgrade or maintenance. The number of aircraft available varies from day-to-day according to normal fleet management activities. Figures for fixed and rotary wing aircraft as at 1 October 2018 are given in the table below. They exclude contractor provided aircraft fleets with the exception of Voyager which is included for completeness.   AircraftServiceSustainment FleetAir Seeker (Rivet Joint)RAF0Atlas A400MRAF5Bae 146RAF0C-17 GlobemasterRAF2C-130J HerculesRAF5Hawk T1RAF/RN44Hawk T2RAF5LightningRAF0SentinelRAF1SentryRAF1Shadow/King Air 350RAF0TornadoRAF9TucanoRAF10TyphoonRAF35VoyagerRAF2AvengerNavy0DefenderArmy0Islander AL Mk1Army0

Ministry of Defence Police: Retirement

Gerald Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent assessment he has made of the appropriateness of the retirement age for Ministry of Defence Police officers; and if he will make a statement.

Gerald Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what plans he has to apply the effective pension age reduction to Ministry of Defence Police officers pensions.

Stuart Andrew: Treasury and Cabinet Office Ministers have given thorough consideration to the merits of introducing an enhanced effective pension age of 60 years for Ministry of Defence Police Officers, but have not been minded to make such a change on the grounds that this would conflict with a key principle of the Government pension reforms that increased longevity requires longer working lives.The Ministry of Defence is working with the Cabinet Office to reduce the Ministry of Defence Police Officers pension age to state pension age minus three years for alpha pension scheme members (with a minimum pensionable age of 65), to be funded by the Ministry of Defence. We are currently working with the Defence Police Federation on implementation.

Saudi Arabia: Military Aid

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many and what proportion of (a) service personnel in each of the services and (b) officials in his Department stationed in Saudi Arabia have delivered training to Saudi Armed forces in each of the last four years.

Mark Lancaster: As at 23 October, there are approximately 110 UK Service personnel and 130 Ministry of Defence civillian staff permanently based in Saudi Arabia. The total number changes frequently due to a number factors including staff rotation.Of these, only the Royal Navy Liaison Team (four personnel) permanently delivers training to Saudi officer cadets in Jbail.All other UK training is provided by visiting short term training teams.The information requested for previous years is not held centrally.

Department for Work and Pensions

Social Security Benefits: Disability

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant the Government’s response to recommendation 59 (e) to the report to the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities’ Concluding Observations, whether her Department will publish its continuous review of conditionality and sanction policies.

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant the Government’s response to recommendation 59 (e) of the follow-up report to the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities’ Concluding Observations, whether the Government has plans to undertake a comprehensive review of the conditionality and sanctions regimes for Employment and Support Allowance.

Alok Sharma: The Department continously reviews conditionality requirements and sanctions policies as part of business as usual activity. Employment and Support Allowance will be phased out as part of managed migration to Universal Credit, commencing in 2019. The Department therefore have no plans to carry out a comprehensive review of conditionality and sanctions policies for Employment and Support Allowance.

Universal Credit

Stephen Lloyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the draft Universal Credit(Transitional Provisions) (Managed Migration) Regulations 2018, what representations she has received from disability charities on those draft regulations.

Stephen Lloyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the draft Universal Credit (Transitional Provisions) (Managed Migration) Regulations 2018, what analysis her Department has undertaken to assess the effect of those draft regulations on (a) disabled people, (b) carers and families and (c) Information and advice services.

Alok Sharma: The draft Regulations have been out for consultation with the Social Security Advisory Committee and we will consider their detailed recommendations alongside all the other stakeholder contributions we receive. We have had, and will continue to have, discussions with a wide range of stakeholders, including disability charities, on the regulations and on the wider managed migration process. This extensive consultation with stakeholders is designed to ensure that the regulations accommodate the needs of all claimants. Equality impacts have been considered in developing our plans for managed migration, in line with Ministers’ legal duties. We will continue to consider these impacts as our plans for managed migration develop.

Universal Credit

Mr Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how universal credit is calculated for people who (a) are in work and (b) would formerly have claimed working tax credits; and what comparative assessment he has made of the level of entitlement of such people to (i) universal credit and (ii) those benefits which universal credit has replaced.

Alok Sharma: Under the legacy system £2.4 billion of welfare benefits did not get paid at all because claimants could not navigate the complexity of the system. Universal Credit is putting this right, ensuring this money goes to 700,000 claimants who need it. Universal Credit replaces six benefits with one, to simplify the system and make work pay. As a result, people claiming Universal Credit move into work faster, stay in work longer and spend more time looking to increase their earnings. Universal Credit also provides more help with childcare costs, a dedicated Work Coach, scraps the 16-hour ‘cliff edge’ and the prohibitive tax rates should someone start work. When it is fully rolled out we expect Universal Credit will boost employment by 200,000, lifting people out of poverty and generating £8 billion in economic benefits every year.Universal Credit includes a Standard Allowance and separate elements to provide support for housing costs, children and childcare costs and support for disabled people and carers.Many claimants will have higher entitlements under Universal Credit but for those who do not, anyone on existing benefits or tax credits whose circumstances remain the same will not lose out in cash terms when claiming Universal Credit, as part of the managed migration process. These claimants will be given transitional protection to avoid cash loss at the point of change.

Universal Credit

Mr Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the savings to be accrued to the public purse from the replacement of working tax credits with universal credit for new claimants in each of the next five years.

Alok Sharma: It is not possible to separate out Working Tax Credits from savings accrued from all the legacy benefits that Universal Credit replaces. The overall impact on the public purse is set out in the answer to Question 156437 on 26 June 2018.

Universal Credit

Hugh Gaffney: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of recent trends in the average levels of household debt for people in receipt of universal credit.

Alok Sharma: The Government has taken a number of steps to prevent problem debt, such as capping payday lending costs, and promoting savings especially for those on low incomes. We also have interest free advances within Universal Credit, and a system of priority deductions to help claimants who are in arrears.

Universal Credit

Hugh Gaffney: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate her Department has made of the number of people expected to require additional support to make a universal credit claim during the managed migration process.

Alok Sharma: We recognise that some people will require additional support. So we have designed the process and legislation to accommodate the varying needs of claimants when they are managed migrated to Universal Credit. We will carry out a lengthy period of testing comprising of small volumes to identify what proportion of people will require additional support and, equally importantly, what that support should be.

Personal Independence Payment: Medical Examinations

Heidi Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the evidential basis was for the introduction of the 20-metre rule as a criterion for mobility in the personal independence payment assessment procedure.

Heidi Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has made an assessment of the effect of the introduction of the 20-metre rule on the level of people's eligibility for personal independence payment compared with previous levels of eligibility for disability living allowance.

Sarah Newton: The development of the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessment has been carried out in an iterative, transparent and consultative manner. It was developed in collaboration with a wide range of experts and through comprehensive public consultation.The consultation process confirmed there is no consensus across the health and social care community of the perfect measure of mobility and there is no evidence for one particular distance.The 20 metre distance was introduced in PIP to distinguish those whose mobility is significantly more limited than others and who face even greater barriers on a day to day basis – those who have the highest need. There are 104,000 PIP claimants receiving the enhanced rate of mobility who previously were not awarded the higher rate mobility in Disability Living Allowance in the period April 2013 to October 2017.

Universal Credit: Liverpool

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions she has had with housing associations in South Liverpool on the potential effect of the introduction of universal credit on tenants' ability to make rental payments.

Alok Sharma: We work extensively with stakeholders, including housing associations in South Liverpool, to support Universal Credit claimants to pay their rent. Several Liverpool based housing associations are enrolled as Trusted Partners on the Landlord Portal, including Riverside Housing which took part in the Trusted Partner Pilot, and which was one of the first housing associations to enrol on the Landlord Portal. Jobcentres in Liverpool have been working closely with a wide range of partners including Registered Social Landlords throughout the preparation and delivery stages of Universal Credit, to help tenants and identify areas where further support may be required. The best way to ensure people pay their rent is to help them into work. Under Universal Credit, people are moving into work faster and staying in work longer than under the previous system. The changes announced as part of the £1.5bn package of improvements in the Autumn 2017 Budget support claimants during the first assessment period to prevent them from falling into arrears while their claim is assessed.

Temporary Employment: Mental Health

Julie Elliott: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment her Department has made of the effect of (a) zero-hour contracts and (b) non-permanent work on the mental health of employees.

Sarah Newton: We recognise the importance of employment security and good work design to employee wellbeing and mental health. Both the Government and independent research has identified that zero hours contracts are an important part of a flexible, modern labour market. Zero hours contracts allow flexibility for both employers and individuals and are useful where work demands are irregular or where there is not a constant demand for staff. They can also provide a level of flexibility for the individual, which allows them to work around other commitments, such as study or childcare. However, we recognise concerns that the UK’s flexible labour market is not working fairly for everyone and that, in some cases, zero hours contracts are not used appropriately by business. That is why the Prime Minister asked Matthew Taylor to carry out his review to consider modern working practices and whether they need to change to keep pace with modern business models. Our detailed response to the review was published on 7 February 2018. In that response, we committed to take forward work on the vast majority of the 53 recommendations. The Government has committed to firm action and future legislation, and has consulted on how best to achieve change. We are now analysing the responses. Further, the Government also recognises the importance of mental health which is why the Prime Minister commissioned the Lord Dennis Stevenson and Paul Farmer, the Chief Executive of Mind, to conduct an independent review, Thriving at Work into how employers can better support all employees, including those with mental ill health or wellbeing, to remain in and thrive at work. It presented a compelling business case for employers to take action to improve the wellbeing of their employees providing recommendations for all employers to adopt six core standards that lay the basic foundations for an approach to workplace mental health. The Health and Safety Executive as an agency of DWP sets standards and provides resources and guidance for employers. These promote a preventative approach designed to reduce the impact of ill health that results from activities undertaken in the workplace and includes preventative actions on work-related mental ill health. The approach applies to all employers, regardless of the size of their business or nature of the employment contract used. HSE collects statistics gathered from the Labour Force Survey on self-reported work-related stress, anxiety and depression amongst workers within the last 12 months (see: http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/). However, linking data on non-permanent work contracts to the group of workers reporting work-related mental ill health is unlikely to provide any reliable information.

Department for Work and Pensions: Social Media

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much her Department has spent on promoted content on (a) Twitter, (b) Facebook and (c) Instagram in each month since June 2017.

Justin Tomlinson: We are the biggest Government Department with a day to day operation on which around 22 million citizens depend. However we are conscious that many people who want information won’t be aware of Government channels. In these instances paying to reach the widest possible audience is both necessary and responsible. This is in line with other Government Departments. Between June 2017 and September 2018 The Department for Work and Pensions has spent £1,710,666 on promoted activity with these platforms through its media buying agency Carat.

Universal Credit

Rushanara Ali: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she plans to take to provide low-income parents in receipt of universal credit with support for the payment of upfront childcare costs.

Alok Sharma: The Government recognises that childcare costs can affect parents’ decisions to take up paid work or increase their working hours, or remain in paid work. To overcome this barrier to employment we increased the level of support for childcare costs from 70 per cent in legacy benefits, to 85 per cent within Universal Credit. This means that working families claiming Universal Credit can reclaim up to 85 per cent of their eligible childcare costs each month, up to a maximum of £646.35 for one child and £1,108.04 for two or more children. Claimants with a firm job offer can claim Universal Credit Childcare costs up to 1 month prior to starting work to enable their children to settle into a new routine. We also offer extra support to enable parents to pay upfront childcare costs or deposits: for example, claimants may be eligible to receive an advance of their future Universal Credit entitlement, which is interest free. Work coaches and claimants work together to ensure that, where this is taken up, repayments are affordable and manageable. If a budgeting advance is not appropriate, the Flexible Support Fund may also provide assistance. Payments from this fund are non-repayable, and are managed locally to provide tailored and targeted support for claimants to move into work. Since February 2018, Universal Credit claimants have been able to upload digital copies of their childcare cost receipts or invoices through their online Universal Credit account, which also eases the burden on claimants.

Social Security Benefits

Emma Hardy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claims for (a) Personal Independence Payment and (b) Employment and Support Allowance were (i) made and (ii) awarded in each of the last three years.

Sarah Newton: The latest available data on Personal Independence Payment (PIP) registrations and clearances (i.e. whether the claim was awarded, disallowed or withdrawn) and the number of Employment and Support Allowance claimants who undertake a Work Capability Assessment and the related outcomes by month is publically available and can be found at https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/ Guidance for users is available at:https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html

Social Security Benefits: Endometriosis

Emma Hardy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claims for (a) personal independence payment and (b) employment and support allowance where Endometriosis was referenced in the application were (a) made and (b) awarded in each of the last three years.

Sarah Newton: In response to question a) on Personal Independence Payment (PIP), in the application process, claimants’ main disabling condition is only recorded for collation by the Department at assessment. It is not recorded at the point of application. The Department does not therefore hold data on the number of applicants to Personal Independence Payment (PIP) with a main disabling condition of Endometriosis. In response to question b) on PIP, the number of awards for claimants with Endometriosis as the main disabling condition for the last 3 years are included in the table below: Table 1: PIP Awards for claimants with Endometriosis as the main disabling condition for the past 3 years: YearNumber of PIP Claims Awarded201615020171802018*110Total440 * Only includes data up to 31st July 2018. Notes: The PIP Assessment outcome in Table 1 shows the outcome of the first DWP decision on each Assessment (i.e. prior to any reconsideration, appeal action and award review), where that decision was made between 1st January 2016 and 31st July 2018.Data is based on main disabling condition as recorded on the PIP computer system. Claimants may often have multiple disabling conditions upon which the decision is based but only the main disabling condition is shown in these statistics.PIP data includes normal rules and special rules for the terminally ill claimants, and is for both new claims and DLA reassessment claims.This is unpublished data. It should be used with caution and it may be subject to future revision.Data taken from the PIP computer system’s management information.Data has been rounded to the nearest 10.# indicates a value of less than 10.Statistical disclosure control has been applied to this table to avoid the release of confidential data. Totals may not sum due to the disclosure control applied.Figures are for Great Britain only.Figures are correct as at 31st July 2018.In response to questions a) and b) on Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), the information requested is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost

Employment: Learning Disability

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what training Jobcentre Plus staff receive to ensure that they are able to fully support people with learning disabilities to find work.

Alok Sharma: Jobcentre Plus staff receive training that includes topics which provide staff with the awareness, skills and knowledge to support people with learning disabilities to find work. This enables our people to provide the best customer experience tailored to the individual The training specifically provides an understanding of the characteristics of customers with learning disabilities, identifying and discussing support they may require along with measures and techniques that they can use to ensure that the best outcome for the individual is reached.

Social Security Benefits: Widowed People

Robert Halfon: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what financial support his Department provides to a (a) widow and (b) widower who nursed their deceased marital partner through a terminal illness.

Justin Tomlinson: Bereavement Support Payment provides short-term support to working age people whose deceased spouse or civil partner has paid sufficient National Insurance contributions. It is intended to help with the immediate costs of bereavement and can be paid to both widows and widowers. It consists of an initial payment and up to 18 monthly instalments with a higher amount for those with children. It is not taxable and can be paid on top of any income-related benefits the household receives thus benefiting those on lower incomes. Those in receipt of a means-tested benefit or tax credits may qualify for a Funeral Expenses Payment if they are responsible for arranging a funeral. Funeral Expenses Payments provide help towards funeral costs. They cover specified necessary costs, for example burial or cremation fees, plus a contribution of up to £700 towards other costs such as funeral directors fees

Universal Credit

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if her Department will take steps to collect official statistics on food bank usage in the UK following the national roll-out of universal credit.

Justin Tomlinson: We review research carried out by organisations including the Trussell Trust to add to our understanding of food bank use, and are considering requirements to add to our evidence base. We have no current plans to develop official national statistics on food bank use. However, the Office for National Statistics is leading a project to improve statistics on household food insecurity by reviewing all existing official and non-official sources of data and looking at options to fill data gaps in partnership with government departments, including the Department for Work and Pensions.

Universal Credit

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the effect of the national roll-out of universal credit on the incidence of food bank usage in the UK.

Alok Sharma: People use food banks for many reasons, and it would be misleading to link them to any single cause. We are constantly reviewing research carried out by organisations including the Trussell Trust, to add to our understanding of food bank use, and will consider requirements to add to our evidence base. Work offers people the best opportunity to get out of poverty and Universal Credit gets people to work faster and staying in work longer than the outdated legacy benefits system. As a safeguard for people needing more support, we have a well-established system of hardship payments, benefit advances and budgeting loans. We have introduced a further package of measures this year for Universal Credit claimants which were announced at Autumn Budget 2017. This comprehensive package worth £1.5 billion to help people in their first assessment period included, the abolition of waiting days, the introduction of advances up to 100% of a claimant’s indicative award (repayable over a period of up to 12 months), and a two week transitional payment for those previously claiming Housing Benefit.

Universal Credit: Garston and Halewood

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the potential effects of the roll-out of Universal Credit on child poverty levels in Garston and Halewood constituency.

Justin Tomlinson: National statistics on children in low income are set out in DWP’s annual "Households Below Average Income" publication. The latest figures available are for the year to 2016/17. The number and proportion of children in low income is not available at a constituency level in this publication because the survey sample sizes are too small to support the production of robust estimates at this geography. Latest 3-year estimates for the North West region in 2014/15 - 2016/17 show the rate of children in absolute low income at 20% Before Housing Costs, this is a decrease of 4 percentage points from 24% in 2007/08-2009/10. The best way to help people improve their lives is through employment, and people on Universal Credit move into work faster and stay in work longer. Work offers families the best opportunity to move out of poverty and Universal Credit strengthens incentives for parents to move into and progress in work. There are 300,000 fewer children in absolute low income compared with 2010 – a record low. The Government has made a statutory commitment to continue to publish data on individuals in low income, including on the number of children in low income. We will continue to monitor the number of children in low income for future Households Below Average Income publications as the roll-out of Universal Credit progresses.

Disability Living Allowance: Children

Dr Lisa Cameron: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has plans to allocate additional funding for mobility payments to children under the age of three in 2019; and if she will make a statement.

Sarah Newton: There are no proposals to change the age restrictions for the mobility component of Child DLA. Only children over the age of three can claim the mobility component of Disability Living Allowance (DLA). This is because entitlement to the higher rate mobility component of DLA depends primarily on an inability to walk. All young children have substantial mobility needs up until the age of three years old. However, the Department does understand the difficulties that some families with severely disabled children under the age of three may face, particularly those who have a reliance on bulky medical equipment which makes transportation difficult. After being introduced by the Department, the Motability charity and Family Fund have begun a pilot to support families with their mobility needs.

Universal Credit

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an estimate of the level of funding required to cancel the debts of claimants transferred from legacy benefits to universal credit.

Alok Sharma: The Department for Work and Pensions has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Pension Credit

Ben Lake: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what her Department’s policy is on how decisions are confirmed by the Department and external agencies on pension credit entitlement.

Ben Lake: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people were notified of their non-entitlement to pension credit in writing; and how many of those people were informed of their entitlement to mandatory reconsideration in each of the last two years.

Ben Lake: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the number of confirmations of pension credit non-entitlement that were given over the phone in the last 12 months; and of those confirmations how many were given the option of mandatory reconsideration.

Guy Opperman: DWP does not provide notifications of Pension Credit entitlement, or non-entitlement, by telephone as all decisions are provided to customers by letter. In the instances when a Pension Credit application is unsuccessful, the decision letter explains how the customer can request a mandatory reconsideration from the Department if they disagree with the decision. Decisions about Pension Credit entitlement are made by decision makers of the Department for Work and Pensions acting on behalf of the Secretary of State and not by external agencies. Decisions about Pension Credit entitlement are notified in writing and claimants are given written notice of their rights of appeal. The information is not available in the instances when a Pension Credit application is unsuccessful, the decision letter explains how the customer can request a mandatory reconsideration if they disagree with the decision.

Occupational Pensions

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the number of employers who have not met their obligations to employees on automatic enrolment in pensions in the last three years.

Guy Opperman: Automatic enrolment has been a great success, with over 9.9 million employees enrolled and more than 1.3 million employers having met their duties to date. Government has put in place a robust, proportionate compliance framework. This is administered by The Pensions Regulator, and includes detailed regulatory guidance about how to comply with the law. The Regulator publishes quarterly bulletins where figures can be found on compliance and enforcement. These are at http://www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/doc-library/enforcement-activity.aspx. The Regulator also publishes an annual commentary and analysis report which can be found at http://www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/docs/automatic-enrolment-commentary-analysis-2018.pdf.

Universal Credit: Glasgow North East

Mr Paul Sweeney: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many constituents in Glasgow North East constituency in receipt of legacy benefits will be financially worse off as a result of the universal credit full service migration at Springburn Job Centre from 31 October 2018.

Alok Sharma: The Department for Work and Pensions has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Universal Credit: Glasgow

Mr Paul Sweeney: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he Department has undertaken an assessment of the effect of the roll-out of universal credit full service on the economy of the City of Glasgow in 2018-19.

Alok Sharma: The Department does not forecast the economic impact of Universal Credit by area. The Universal Credit Programme Full Business Case demonstrates that Universal Credit provides value for money and will produce economic benefits of £34bn over the next ten years and £8 billion in economic benefits per year once fully rolled out. It will also increase the number of people in employment by 200,000. The Universal Credit Programme Full Business Case can be accessed athttps://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/725477/uc-business-case-summary.pdf

Personal Independence Payment

Mike Amesbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of personal independence payment (PIP) claimants who have been sent an AR1 form before the end of their entitlement period to PIP go on to lose their entitlement to that benefit before the originally agreed time period.

Mike Amesbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many tribunal decisions to award personal independence payment for a defined period subsequently have had that entitlement ended as a result of the AR1 review process in each year for which information is available.

Sarah Newton: The information requested is not collated centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.Once someone has been awarded Personal Independence Payment, which can be paid at one of eight rates, that award will be reviewed. Award rates and their durations are set on an individual basis, based on the claimant’s needs and the likelihood of those needs changing. Regular reviews are a key feature of the benefit and ensure that payments accurately match the current needs of claimants. A review date is set before the end of the award date to ensure enough time for a full review of the case to be carried out without the claimant being left without money because their award has come to an end.

Carer's Allowance: Overpayments

Ruth George: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many cases of overpayment of carers allowance her Department has sought to collect in each of the last 10 years; and what the average amount of overpayment recovered in each of those years was.

Ruth George: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many cases of recovered overpayments of carers allowance were due to (a) 35 hours of care per week not being done, (b) earnings in excess of the threshold and (c) carers taking up an education course exceeding 21 hours of study time in each of the last 10 years.

Ruth George: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many cases of recovered overpayments of carers allowance due to earnings in excess of the threshold related to earnings which exceeded the threshold by (a) less than 10 per cent and (b) less than 20 per cent in each of the last 10 years.

Justin Tomlinson: The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) recognises and appreciates the vital contribution made by informal carers who provide invaluable support for relatives, partners, friends and neighbours who may be ill, frail or disabled. We also recognise and value the work that carer’s organisations undertake for and on behalf of carers. Since 2010 the rate of Carer’s Allowance has increased from £53.90 to £64.60 a week, meaning an additional £550 a year for carers. By 2022/23 we are forecast to spend around £3.7 billion a year on CA, a real terms increase of more than a third since 2016/17. DWP has a duty to protect public funds and an obligation to ensure that, overpaid benefit payments are recovered in accordance with the appropriate social security legislation. In September 2018 DWP introduced the Verify Earnings and Pensions (VEP) system for use in Carers Allowance. The VEP service presents earnings and employment data to users, with an automated alerts service generating notifications of earnings or pensions related changes. This allows benefit awards to be updated far more quickly. Where there are discrepancies DWP will contact the claimant for further information. This activity is part of the normal claims handling and maintenance process. DWP has a Carers Allowance (CA) Fraud and Error Framework which addresses potential fraud and error losses in CA. Activity is based on CA overpayment data. This data shows that the main causes of errors are earnings and to a lesser extent, change of entitlement and hospitalisation. Individual benefit strategies have been developed in order to target these risks types Data is only available from 2011/12. Table 1 below shows the volume and value of CA new debt overpayments deemed recoverable for the period available up to 2017/18. Table 2 shows the monetary value of CA overpayment recoveries in each year. Please note, recoveries in a financial year won’t necessarily correspond to the new debts raised within that year. DWP has different deduction rates to be applied in different circumstances and these rates can vary dependent upon a claimant’s particular circumstances. Because of this it would not be possible to provide a meaningful average recovery amount.  Table 1Financial YearCount of New CA DebtsValue of New CA Debts Raised in Year2011/1230.7k£39.32m2012/1322.4k£28.27m2013/1419.1k£25.86m2014/1514.4k£18.01m2015/1614.5k£16.74m2016/1721.4k£19.01m2017/1818.1k£18.18mTable 2Financial YearValue of CA Debt Recovered in Year2011/12£18.02m2012/13£18.65m2013/14£19.28m2014/15£19.60m2015/16£19.01m2016/17£21.12m2017/18£20.91m The Government keeps the CA earnings limit under regular review. In April 2018, the CA earnings limit increased from £116 to £120 a week. This 3.4% increase was higher than average earnings growth (Sep 17). In the Economic and fiscal outlook (March 2017) the OBR forecast that average earnings would increase by around 7.5% between 2015 and 2018, whereas we will have increased the CA earnings limit by around 9%. Table 3 below shows a breakdown of the recoverable CA overpayment volumes by reason for the same period available. It should be noted that not all debts will be cleared in the year in which they have been raised.Table 3Financial YearCount of CA DebtsReason for CA Overpayment2011/125.5kCeased to Care 35hours 9.0kEarnings over CA Limit 0.3kFull Time Education2012/135.0kCeased to Care 35hours 8.0kEarnings over CA Limit 0.3kFull Time Education2013/145.1kCeased to Care 35hours 9.2kEarnings over CA Limit 0.4kFull Time Education2014/154.2kCeased to Care 35hours 6.7kEarnings over CA Limit 0.3kFull Time Education2015/164.6kCeased to care 35hours 6.5kEarnings over CA Limit 0.2kFull Time Education2016/177.5kCeased to Care 35hours 8.7kEarnings over CA Limit 0.4kFull Time Education2017/184.9kCeased to Care 35hours 9.3kEarnings over CA Limit 0.2kFull Time Education  Data on specific earnings thresholds as requested is not recorded.

Carer's Allowance: Fraud

Ruth George: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, (a) how many prosecutions for fraud for carers allowance have been pursued, (b) how many of those prosecutions were successful, (c) how much total overpaid benefit was recovered, (d) how much was levied in fines as a result of those prosecutions and (e) what the costs of bringing those prosecutions were in each of the last 10 years.

Ruth George: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many of the prosecutions relating to overpaid carer's allowance related to (a) 35 hours of care per week not being carried out, (b) earnings in excess of the threshold and (c) carers taking up an education course exceeding 21 hours of study time in each of the last 10 years.

Justin Tomlinson: The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has a duty to protect public funds and an obligation to ensure that, overpaid benefit payments are recovered in accordance with the appropriate social security legislation. DWP does not routinely publish prosecution statistics. The information is not available at a granular level. The level of detail requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Department for Work and Pensions: Staff

Mike Amesbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department has taken to offer more hours to employees of her Department who are in receipt of universal credit; and how many employees of her Department in receipt of universal credit have secured such extra hours in order to comply with conditionality requirements.

Alok Sharma: The Department for Work and Pensions has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Social Security Benefits

Matt Western: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has targets for moving people from jobseeker's allowance to employment support allowance; and if she will make a statement.

Alok Sharma: There are no Departmental targets for moving people from Jobseeker’s Allowance to Employment and Support Allowance. Every benefit claim is considered on its merits, and decisions are made based on the available evidence and the legislation according to which such decisions are made.

Universal Credit: Disability

Mr Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the effect of the roll-out of universal credit on households with disabled children which (a) already receive the disabled child premium and (b) have not yet claimed that premium.

Mr Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reason the child disability addition of universal credit is £29.10 per week and not at the rate of the existing disabled child premium of £62.86 per week.

Peter Kyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the effect of the roll-out of universal credit on families with disabled children.

Sarah Newton: In formulating Universal Credit policy for support for families with disabled children the Government’s aim was to simplify previous provision and align the lower disabled child addition with that for adults. This was in order to ensure that, for this group, the extra amounts that are payable for disability were aligned when the young person claims benefit in their own right. The Government also took the opportunity to refocus resources on the most severely disabled children and adults and extended eligibility for the higher rate to children who are registered blind. The Government is committed to supporting disabled people, improving the quality of life of those facing disadvantage and tackling poverty by addressing the causes driving it. We recognise that there can be extra costs associated with disability. Universal Credit provides additional support for disabled adults and disabled children. No one, including households with disabled children, will have a reduced benefit entitlement at the point that they move over to Universal Credit as a result of managed migration. Universal Credit claimants who are responsible for a child or a qualifying young person may be entitled to a Disabled Child Addition for each eligible child. This continues to be available for all eligible children, regardless of the total number of children in the household.

Employment and Support Allowance

Jessica Morden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Written Ministerial Statement of 18 July on Employment and Support Allowance, WS877, what estimate she has made of the number of people who have been underpaid; and what the average sum is that has been underpaid to claimants in (a) Wales and (b) each parliamentary constituency in Wales.

Sarah Newton: We are not able to make robust estimates of the numbers of cases likely to be due arrears as part of the exercise to correct underpayments of Employment and Support Allowance, at regional or parliamentary constituency level. All estimated numbers and amounts are available at national level only. We are focusing our efforts on contacting all potentially affected individuals to ensure they are paid as quickly as possible. A Written Statement and Frequently Asked Question document was deposited in the House of Commons Library on Wednesday 17th October which can be found at http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/business-papers/commons/deposited-papers/. Ad hoc statistics can also be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/esa-underpayments-forecast-numbers-affected-forecast-expenditure-and-progress-on-checking.

Employment and Support Allowance: Maladministration

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the number of people affected by the errors in the calculation of employment and support allowance made by her Department in each (a) parliamentary constituency and (b) local authority area.

Sarah Newton: We are not able to make robust estimates of the numbers of cases likely to be due arrears as part of the exercise to correct underpayments of Employment and Support Allowance, at parliamentary constituency or local authority level. All estimated numbers and amounts are available at national level only. We are focusing our efforts on contacting all potentially affected individuals to ensure they are paid as quickly as possible.

Employment and Support Allowance: South Yorkshire

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate her Department has made of the value of underpayments to recipients of employment support allowance in South Yorkshire since 2011.

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate her Department has made of the value of underpayments to recipients of employment support allowance in Barnsley since 2011.

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many recipients of employment support allowance in South Yorkshire have been underpaid since 2011.

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many recipients of employment support allowance in Barnsley have been underpaid since 2011.

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people calculated to have been underpaid employment and support allowance payment in South Yorkshire have been refunded a backdated payment in full.

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people calculated to have been underpaid employment and support allowance in Yorkshire have been refunded a backdated payment in full.

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of people calculated to have been underpaid employment and support allowance payment in South Yorkshire have been refunded a backdated payment in full.

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of people calculated to have been underpaid employment and support allowance payment in Barnsley have been refunded a backdated payment in full since 2011.

Sarah Newton: We are not able to make robust estimates of the numbers of cases likely to be due arrears as part of the exercise to correct underpayments of Employment and Support Allowance, at regional or parliamentary constituency level. All estimated numbers and amounts are available at national level only. We are focusing our efforts on contacting all potentially affected individuals to ensure they are paid as quickly as possible. A Written Statement and Frequently Asked Question document was deposited in the House of Commons Library on Wednesday 17th October which can be found at http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/business-papers/commons/deposited-papers/. Ad hoc statistics can also be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/esa-underpayments-forecast-numbers-affected-forecast-expenditure-and-progress-on-checking.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Food Supply

Jared O'Mara: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans his Department has to ensure that there is a secure supply of food for residents of (a) England and (b) Sheffield Hallam in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal.

David Rutley: We firmly believe it is in the interests of both the EU and the UK to strike a deal. That remains the goal on both sides and we are confident that this will be achieved. But it is the job of a responsible Government to prepare for all scenarios, including the unlikely event that we reach March 2019 without agreeing a deal. We have already carried out very significant ‘no deal’ preparations and we are now stepping up the pace, including publishing a series of technical notices so that businesses and citizens have time to prepare.The government has well established ways of working with the food industry to mitigate possible disruption and we will be using these to support preparations for leaving the EU.The UK has a high degree of food security, built on access to a range of sources including strong domestic production and imports from third countries. Consumers will continue to have access to a range of different products when we leave the EU.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Social Media

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much his Department has spent on promoted content on (a) Twitter, (b) Facebook and (c) Instagram in each month since June 2017.

George Eustice: Digital advertising is a cost effective way for the Government to recruit nurses, promote blood donations, find out about pensions and all the other important information the public needs to be aware of.Defra has spent £28,805.00 on promoted activity with these platforms since June 2017 through media buying agencies Carat. Ad hoc spend may not be included in this amount.

Genetically Modified Organisms: Regulation

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 19 December 2017 to Question 120296, what representations (a) he and (b) Ministers of his Department have received from (i) the Agricultural Biotechnology Council and (ii) manufacturers of genetically modified seed products on reducing the level of regulation of such products after the UK leaves the EU; and if he will make a statement.

George Eustice: As the representative body for manufacturers of genetically modified (GM) seeds, the Agricultural Biotechnology Council has made Defra aware of its views on future regulation in this area. The Government’s policy is to maintain high safety standards on GM products, with their release subject to a robust assessment of the potential impact on human health and the environment.

Hares: Myxomatosis

James Cartlidge: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effect of the spread of myxomatosis on the brown hare population in the UK.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: Myxomatosis is endemic in rabbits and very occasionally can affect hares. There is no evidence to indicate this disease is having a significant impact on the UK’s brown hare population. There is no evidence of an outbreak of myxomatosis in hares this year. Three carcasses have been submitted to APHA and so far none have shown signs of the disease.

Schools: Nutrition

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to replace the EU school fruit, vegetables and milk scheme; and for what reason such steps were not included in the Agriculture Bill.

David Rutley: The existing legal framework for the EU’s School Scheme is being rolled over into UK law under the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. This provides a suitable basis to support future decisions on the longer term approach to school milk rather than include the arrangements in the Agriculture Bill. We want children to be healthy and well-nourished and regular dairy consumption makes an important contribution to this. The Government is also promoting children’s dairy consumption through, for example, the national free Nursery Milk Scheme, and by ensuring the availability of milk for pupils under the School Food Standards, including free milk for disadvantaged pupils.

Home Office

Home Office: Social Media

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much his Department has spent on promoted content on (a) Twitter, (b) Facebook and (c) Instagram in each month since June 2017.

Victoria Atkins: The Home Office has used social media as one of many channels and approaches to deliver crime prevention and public awareness communica-tions campaigns. For example, social media adverts have been successful-ly used as part of knife crime prevention campaigns as a way to reach teenagers in an environment which they use and trust.The Home Office has spent £850,005 on promoted activity with these platforms since June 2017 through its media buying agency Carat, which amounts to approximately 0.28% of overall annual communications spend across Government this year. Ad hoc spend may not be included in this amount.

Deportation: Human Trafficking

Rushanara Ali: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many suspected victims of human trafficking have been deported after being referred by the police to UK Visas and Immigration.

Caroline Nokes: The figures for the number of suspected victims of trafficking or modern slavery referred into the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) are published by the National Crime Agency. The NRM is a framework for identifying victims of human trafficking or modern slavery and ensuring they receive the appropriate support. In 2017, 5145 potential victims of trafficking were referred to the NRM, of which 1384 were referred by the police. For 2018 (up to the end June) there has been 3289 referrals into the NRM, of which 995 were via the police.In order to understand how many of those referrals by the police were subsequently deported (or removed) we would need to extract the biodata from the NRM systems and cross-match it with the Case Information Database (CID). This data is not currently available at this time.

Deportation: Human Trafficking

Rushanara Ali: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what protection is provided to victims of human trafficking to enable them to report trafficking to the police without fear of deportation.

Victoria Atkins: All potential victims of modern slavery who receive a positive ‘reasonable grounds’ decision through the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) are entitled to a comprehensive package of support for a minimum of 45 days, regardless of their immigration status. This includes access to safe house accommodation, support, and medical care including counselling as required.Those confirmed to be victims through the NRM may be granted a period of leave to remain in the UK if they are helping the police with an inquiry, pursuing compensation, or their personal circumstances merit a grant of leave. Moreover, individuals can apply for asylum if they have a genuine fear of return to their country of origin. All asylum applications are looked at on a case-by-case basis, with caseworkers giving careful consideration to the circumstances of each individual. No one who is found to be at risk of persecution or serious harm in their country of origin will be returned there

Asylum: Children

Rushanara Ali: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many of the 794 unaccompanied refugee children who were granted asylum in the UK in 2017 have made applications for family reunion.

Caroline Nokes: There is currently no provision in the Immigration Rules for children with refugee status in the UK to sponsor family members to join them. Allowing children to sponsor parents would create further incentives for more children to be encouraged, or even forced, to leave their family and risk hazardous journeys to the UK to sponsor relatives. This plays into the hands of criminal gangs who exploit vulnerable people and goes against our safeguarding responsibilities.The Government believes the best interests of children are reflected in remaining with their families, claiming asylum in the first safe country they reach that is the fastest route to safety and relying on resettlement schemes to travel safely.

Crime: Maps

Rushanara Ali: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how the Metropolitan police (a) collects and (b) stores personal data that is used for predictive crime mapping.

Mr Nick Hurd: Any collection and storage of personal data for the purposes of predictive crime mapping by the Metropolitan Police Service is an operational matter for the Metropolitan Police Service.

Hate Crime: Internet

Rushanara Ali: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to tackle online hate crime.

Victoria Atkins: The newly published Hate Crime Action Plan refresh sets out the Govern-ment’s plan to tackle hate crime, including how we will address online hate crime. These include the publication – by the Home Office and Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) – of a White Paper that sets out proposals for future legislation around online harms, including hate crime. We will be supporting the upcoming review of hate crime legislation by the Law Commission, along with their current review of online abusive commu-nications.We are also working directly with social media companies to support their ef-forts; engaging internationally to strengthen our approach; and funding the National Police Chiefs’ Council for the National Online Hate Crime Hub, which uses specially trained staff to investigate and action reports.

Visas: Overseas Students

Royston Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department plans to subsidise costs of short-term visas for students wishing to study in the UK after the UK leaves the EU.

Caroline Nokes: The Government is considering a range of options for the future immigration system and we plan to publish a White Paper later in the autumn.The Government strongly wishes to continue to attract international students to study in the UK. We recognise that they enhance our educational institutions both financially and culturally; they enrich the experience of domestic students; and they become important ambassadors for the United Kingdom in later life.The independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) published its report on the impact of international students in the UK in September 2018. The Government welcomes this report and thanks the MAC for their work. The report makes it clear that international students offer positive economic benefit to the UK and offers a number of policy recommendations. We are considering this report as we develop proposals for the future system

UK Visas and Immigration

Ruth Smeeth: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what length of journey to a reporting centre is deemed to be reasonable by the Home Office.

Caroline Nokes: Individuals subject to reporting can be required to attend the nearest reporting centre or other specified location, including police stations, to their home address.There is no upper limit to the distance which an individual may be required to travel in order to attend their nearest reporting centre. When deciding reporting conditions the Home Office will give due consideration to the young, elderly and those with medical issues and the potential impact of frequent travel over long distances which is considered to involve in excess of 2 hours’ journey time each way.

Firearms and Knives: Crime

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to ensure that Merseyside Police have the resources required to tackle incidents of knife and gun crime in the area.

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will increase the level of central Government funding to Merseyside Police force to help that police force tackle recent incidents of knife and gun crime in Merseyside.

Mr Nick Hurd: Last year, I spoke to all 43 police forces in England & Wales about the demands they face, including Merseyside. The Government is supporting the police to respond to changing demand with an over £460m increase in total investment in the police system this financial year, including an increase of around £280m in funding for Police & Crime Commissioners through council tax precept.The Merseyside PCC’s direct resource funding is £312.6 million in 2018/19, an increase of £5.1 million from precept compared to 2017/18.Decisions about the allocation of police resources and deployment of officers are for Chief Constables and democratically accountable PCCs. They are responsible for ensuring the needs of the local community are met.However, I can reassure you that public safety is the Government’s number one priority and we will continue to ensure that the police are given the resources they need to do their important work.

Firearms and Knives: Crime

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions he has had with Merseyside Police on tackling knife and gun crime in Merseyside.

Victoria Atkins: Home Office Ministers have regular discussions with law enforcement partners as part of the process of policy development and delivery. As was the case with previous administrations, it is not the Government's practice to provide details of all such meetings.Through the Serious Violence Strategy, launched in April 2018, the Government is taking a range of action to tackle knife and gun crime across England and Wales. This includes our national knife crime media campaign, #knifefree, new legislation to tighten our legislation on knives and firearms in the Offensive Weapons Bill and £1.5 million for the anti-knife crime Community Fund this year, which has funded four different projects in Merseyside. We also continue to encourage all police forces to participate in coordinated national weeks of action to tackle knife crime under Operation Sceptre. Merseyside Police took part in the most recent week of action which commenced on 17 September.

Gangs

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate he has made of the number of (a) gang members in England, (b) gang members who are under the age of 18 and (c) children in England who are the sibling of a known gang member.

Victoria Atkins: Information on the number of gang members is not collected centrally by the Home Office. We do know from our Ending Gang Violence and Exploitation local area reviews that some areas and police forces collect information local-ly on gang members but this is operational information which is locally held.Our Serious Violence Strategy sets out our analysis of recent increases in violent crime and shows that increases in serious have been accompanied by a shift towards younger victims and perpetrators.Our analysis also looks at the evidence of the key risk factors (e.g. school ab-sence, peer pressure etc.) which may mean a young person has a greater propensity to get involved in crime than would otherwise be the case. It also sets out the evidence supporting the importance of early intervention with young people and encouraging positive activities to engage them in and build links with their community.

Human Trafficking

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many successful referrals have been made to the National Referral Mechanism in each of the past five years.

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people referred to the National Referral Mechanism were (a) males over 18, (b) males over 18 who are British residents, (c) males over 18 who go on to get a positive decision, (d) females over 18, (e) females over 18 who are British residents, (f) females over 18 who go on to get a positive decision, (g) males under 18, (h) males under 18 who are British residents, (i) males under 18 who go on to get a positive decision, (j) females under 18 in total, (k) females under 18 who are British residents and (l) females under 18 who go on to get a positive decision in each of the last five years.

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many referrals have been made to the National Referral Mechanism due to gang involvement in each of the last five years.

Victoria Atkins: There is no data available on the number of National Referral Mechanism (NRM) referrals made due to gang involvement. Data on the outcome of referrals for the last five years as well as the nationality, age and gender of those referred is publicly available on the National Crime Agency (NCA) website: http://www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/publications/national-referral-mechanism-statistics/2017-nrm-statistics/884-nrm-annual-report-2017

Prisoners: Deportation

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many foreign nationals who have been given an indeterminate sentence for public protection have been deported (a)  forcibly and (b) voluntarily in each year since 2010.

Caroline Nokes: The Home Office does not hold the information in the format requested.

Modern Slavery Act 2015

Joan Ryan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what representations he has received from (a) the National Crime Agency, (b) the Metropolitan Police, (c) the British Transport police, (d) any other arm of law enforcement, (e) local authorities and (f) charities and NGOs on reviewing the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and the way it is applied to county lines.

Victoria Atkins: The Government has asked Frank Field MP, Maria Miller MP and Baroness-Butler-Sloss to undertake an independent review of the Modern Slavery Act. The aim of the Review is to report on the operation and effectiveness of, and potential improvements to, provisions in the Modern Slavery Act 2015, which provides the legal framework for tackling modern slavery.The Review will consider how to ensure the Act is ‘future-proof’ given our evolving understanding of the nature of modern slavery offences, for example the recent and emerging issues of county lines. The Review is aiming to report by the end of March 2019.Details of the Review were set out in Victoria Atkins written statement of 5th September.

Crimes of Violence: Females

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent estimate he has made of the (a) effect on economic output of violence against women and girls and (b) total spending on public services to prevent and tackle that violence.

Victoria Atkins: The most recent estimate of the cost to the economy of violence against women and girls was published in 2009 by Sylvia Walby.As part of the non-legislative package of work on our Domestic Abuse Bill we will publish an updated estimate of the cost to the economy of violence against women and girls. Over the course of this Parliament the Government is spending £100 million to support victims and survivors of violence against women and girls.

Immigrants: EU Nationals

Afzal Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans he has to collect data on how many of the estimated 3.8 million EU nationals living in the UK will still be without valid immigration status when the EU Settlement Scheme closes in June 2021.

Caroline Nokes: We will monitor the intake to the EU Settlement Scheme relative to the estimated size of the UK-resident population of EU citizens, including to inform our strategy for communications to encourage applications under the scheme by the 30 June 2021 deadline set out in the draft Withdrawal Agreement.

Asylum: Children

Afzal Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that minors in Calais with family in the UK are able to access family reunification procedures.

Caroline Nokes: We continue to meet our commitments under the Dublin Regulation to ensure unaccompanied children with qualifying family in the UK can be transferred to the UK from Europe to have their asylum claim assessed as quickly as possible.We are working closely with French authorities and non-governmental organisations in France to support the identification and transfer of eligible children under Dublin. We have allocated a £3.6 million Dublin development fund, as part of the Sandhurst Treaty signed between the UK and France in January 2018, to identify projects to support eligible claims through the asylum process and ensure those who are ineligible for transfer to the UK are informed of their options.The Treaty also includes a commitment to reduce timescales for decisions and transfers under Dublin. A UK asylum liaison officer has been deployed to France to support the process.

Older People: Abuse

Giles Watling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he plans to bring forward legislative proposals to make elder abuse an aggravated offence.

Victoria Atkins: The Ministry of Justice has asked the Law Commission to carry out an independent review into hate crime legislation to consider whether existing legislation is consistent and effective. This will include whether crimes motivated by, or demonstrating hatred of older people or other potential protected characteristics should be hate crimes.

Department for International Development

Rohingya: Refugees

Rushanara Ali: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what funding her Department has allocated to educational support for Rohingya refugees in Myanmar and Bangladesh, in each of the last three financial years.

Alistair Burt: Prior to August 2017, DFID supported Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh through an existing humanitarian preparedness and response programme. This focused on nutrition and support for partner coordination.After August 2017, the Education Cannot Wait initiative, to which DFID is one of the largest contributors, committed £2.2 million for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh in 2017 to help cover emergency learning needs.DFID has also supported education experts and organisations to work with the Ministries of Education in Bangladesh and Burma to agree a curriculum and certification process for Rohingya children in Cox’s Bazar.DFID is working with the Government of Bangladesh and partners to plan for longer-term refugee needs, such as education and skills training.

Department for International Trade: Contracts

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether gagging clauses have been used in contracts drawn up between her Department and any charities, voluntary sector organisations, social enterprises or companies with the intention of stopping any criticism of Ministers of her Department.

Alistair Burt: The Department for International Development has no “gagging” clauses in its Standard Terms and Conditions. DFID uses a number of Calldown contracts from Crown Commercial Service (CCS) Frameworks. The Terms and Condition of these frameworks are managed and owned by Crown Commercial Service, who should be contacted direct regarding their Terms and Conditions.

Bangladesh: Overseas Aid

Mrs Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much funding the Government has allocated to promote (a) freedom of expression, (b) rights to peaceful protest and (c) democratic engagement in Bangladesh in each of the last five years.

Alistair Burt: DFID Bangladesh has allocated GBP 8.38 million on democratic engagement over the last five years (2014-2018) through phases 1 and 2 of the Strengthening Political Participation Programme. The annual expenditure is as follows:YearAmount in GBP2014 (SPP I)16,456.332015 (SPP I)2,132,855.882016 (SPP I)1,062,532.942017 (SPP II)1,817,969.832018 (SPP II)3,357,854.96Total8,387,669.94 FCO Funding to the organisation Article 19 Bangladesh has supported freedom of expression. This included: £64,284 2014-15 to support freedom of expression; £10,000 in 2016 to support freedom of expression for sexual minorities; and £199,964 to support protection of freedom of expression for journalists and social media commentators 2016 – 2018.We do not currently fund any programmes specifically addressing the right to Freedom of Assembly or peaceful protest.

Bangladesh: Overseas Aid

Mrs Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what the terms and conditions are for the provision of aid to Bangladesh to promote human rights and freedom of expression; and what steps the Government is taking to ensure compliance with those terms and conditions.

Alistair Burt: DFID Bangladesh funds programmes that support civil society to hold the government to account, protect civic space and promote rights, particularly for marginalised or vulnerable groups. These programmes comply with DFID programme management requirements, including thorough due diligence assessments and robust monitoring and evaluation.Where appropriate, programmes that provide funding directly through government systems or work in the security and justices sectors are assessed against DFID Partnership Principles or Overseas Justice and Security Assessment (OSJA) criteria respectively. These ensure programming is human rights compliant. DFID programmes complement FCO Magna Carta human rights funding and FCO diplomatic engagement.Details of DFID Bangladesh programmes are available on the Devtracker website.I was deeply concerned by the violence in Dhaka in response to peaceful road safety protests by students and the subsequent arrest of journalist Shahidul Alam. I expressed UK concern regarding the response to the road safety protests, and raised Dr Alam's case, with the Government of Bangladesh, during my visit to Bangladesh 28-31 August. The Foreign Secretary also raised Dr Alam’s case with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina when they met on 24 September in New York.

UNRWA: Finance

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of funding for the UN Relief and Works Agency for its operations in (a) Palestine and (b) neighbouring countries from (a) the UK, (b) the US and (c) other countries.

Alistair Burt: The UK has consistently been one of the top five donors to UNRWA. We have increased our total funding to £57.5 million so far this year. We have also lobbied other donors to do likewise and are pleased that this effort has been successful; following a Ministerial meeting in New York, UNRWA’s deficit has been reduced to $64 million. However, if further funding is not secured, we assess that this could impact the delivery of essential services across UNRWA’s fields of operation; in Jordan, Lebanon, Gaza, Syria and the West Bank. DFID will continue to work with UNRWA and other donors to help ensure essential services are maintained across the region.

Overseas Aid

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development,  what estimate she has made of the cost in cash terms of maintaining Official Development Assistance at 0.7 per cent of gross national income in the next financial year.

Alistair Burt: The government’s commitment to spend 0.7% of Gross National Income on Official Development Assistance is measured on a calendar year rather than a financial year basis, according to the standards set by the OECD Development Assistance Committee. The cost of meeting the 0.7% commitment in the next calendar year will be dependent upon GNI forecasts, which will be published by the Office for Budget Responsibility at the Autumn Budget.

Overseas Aid

Ian Murray: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what plans her Department has for Official Development Assistance funding allocated to the EU after the UK leaves the EU.

Alistair Burt: As set out in the draft Withdrawal Agreement, the UK will honour commitments made to the EU budget during the period of our membership. In time, we will have more flexibility to consider how we use the £1.5 billion of our aid budget we currently channel through the EU on an annual basis. We remain committed to spending 0.7% of our national income on development assistance to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Where it makes sense, the UK remains open to pooling resources with the EU to maximise combined development impact in areas of our mutual interest if the UK has the required oversight over its funds and there is eligibility for UK organisations to implement any UK funded EU programmes.

Refugees: Protection

Chris Law: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to protect vulnerable people in refugee camps.

Alistair Burt: The UK is strongly committed to the protection of refugees, all of whom are vulnerable, including those in camps.DFID provides support to refugees in camps through several agencies, including the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). A significant component of our support to refugees is focussed on protection. For example, a third of the UK’s recent £70m allocation for the response to the current Rohingya crisis is being spent on protection. Amongst refugees, some people have specific vulnerabilities. The UK has policy frameworks to address multiple vulnerabilities in challenging contexts, including refugee camps. In the Rohingya crisis response, this includes; women’s centres, children’s safe areas, emergency nutrition and midwifery care, and support for survivors of gender based violence.More broadly, in July this year, the UK co-hosted the Global Disability Summit where humanitarian agencies made ambitious commitments on disability in humanitarian settings. This month DFID galvanised the support of all the major international donors – covering 90 per cent of global aid to commit to worldwide standards on the prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse.

Developing Countries: Trade Agreements

Chris Law: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how her Department plans to assess the effect of future trade agreements on developing economies.

Alistair Burt: The Department for International Development and Department for International Trade are working closely together to put global prosperity at the heart of the UK’s future trade policy and to shape our future trading arrangements with developing countries. Our first priority is to deliver continuity in these trading arrangements as we leave the EU. We will conduct a public consultation ahead of every new trade agreement negotiation that will last for 14 weeks.

Developing Countries: Climate Change

Chris Law: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps the Government is taking to support communities in developing countries that are affected by climate change.

Harriett Baldwin: As the recent IPCC report has made clear, climate change is one of the biggest global threats to sustained development and our own way of life. This is why the UK is taking a leading role in tackling climate change and protecting the world’s natural resources. The UK has committed to £5.8bn of climate finance from 2016/17 – 2020/21. This includes specific assistance to help people and communities to be more resilient to climate change. For example, under our Building Resilience and Adaptation to Climate Extremes and Disasters programme, we are helping farmers in Burkina Faso prepare for heavy rains and high temperatures, which will help improve household food security and livelihoods. Since 2011, UK climate investments have supported 47 million people to cope with the effects of climate change and provided 17 million people with improved access to clean energy. More detail of our results is available on GOV.UK.

Overseas Aid

Chris Law: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether the Government plans to implement the recommendations of the International Development Committee report on the definition and administration of Overseas Development Assistance.

Alistair Burt: The Government agrees or partially agrees with many of the recommendations that were made within the Committee’s report. We are committed to maximising impact from the aid budget and using external scrutiny to improve how we spend aid. In some areas, the Government is already implementing the Committee’s recommendations, such as influencing the DAC to ensure that a reverse graduation mechanism is introduced as soon as possible and delivering humanitarian aid irrespective of country income status. However, a number of the recommendations run counter to established spending allocation and accountability structures, or propose changes that would make it difficult to deliver certain objectives within the UK Aid Strategy.

Department for Exiting the European Union

Department for Exiting the European Union: Northern Ireland

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, how many and which (a) Ministers and (b) officials in his Department have visited the Irish border in the last 12 months; when those visits took place; and how long they spent at the border in each of those visits.

Chris Heaton-Harris: The former Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union undertook visits to Northern Ireland on 23 April 2018 and 20 May 2018.The Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Robin Walker, visited Northern Ireland on 23 October 2018.The visits were part of a wider programme of engagement carried out by other Government ministers and officials.

Disclosure of Information

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, how many and which (a) companies, (b) industry bodies and (c) other organisations have signed non-disclosure agreements with the Government on issues relating to the UK leaving the EU.

Chris Heaton-Harris: We continue to engage with a wide range of businesses to understand their priorities and issues as we leave the European Union, both to inform our negotiating position, and our preparations in the unlikely event of there being no deal.The Government has non-disclosure agreements with some private sector organisations. Confidentiality requirements are a common component of contractual obligations and are used by the Department to protect commercial considerations as well as negotiation sensitivities.

Department for Exiting the European Union: Social Media

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, how much his Department has spent on promoted content on (a) Twitter, (b) Facebook and (c) Instagram in each month since June 2017.

Chris Heaton-Harris: DExEU takes seriously its responsibility to communicate the progress of the UK's EU exit with the public. We are committed to doing so in the most effective and accessible ways, including through social media. DExEU has incurred expenditure of £34,746.18 on social media platforms since June 2017. In line with our Freedom of Information returns, the Department reports expenditure on such activity by aggregated amounts, additional information is published on Transparency reports as required.

Companies: Disclosure of Information

Nicky Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, how many non-disclosure agreements have been signed by (a) companies, (b) organisations and (c) individuals in relation to the Government's preparations for the UK leaving the EU without deal.

Chris Heaton-Harris: We continue to engage with a wide range of businesses to understand their priorities and issues as we leave the European Union, both to inform our negotiating position, and our preparations in the unlikely event of there being no deal.The Government has non-disclosure agreements with some private sector organisations. Confidentiality requirements are a common component of contractual obligations and are used by the Department to protect commercial considerations as well as negotiation sensitivities.

Brexit

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what assessment the Government made of the ability under existing legislation to extend any transition period beyond December 2020 while negotiating a new trading relationship with the EU; and whether such a period would need to be covered under a separate treaty with the EU.

Chris Heaton-Harris: We are working at pace to ensure that the necessary arrangements for our future partnership are in place for 31 December 2020.

Trade Agreements

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what estimate he has made of the number of international treaties that will (a) be affected and (b) need to be renegotiated in the event that the UK leaves the EU.

Chris Heaton-Harris: The EU Treaties Office Database lists Treaties relating to our EU membership: http://ec.europa.eu/world/agreements/default.home.do. Not all of these treaties require action when we leave the EU: a number have been superseded, are redundant or are no longer relevant for the UK.We are seeking to maintain the relationships and cooperation we currently enjoy with third countries and international organisations as we exit the EU, and to ensure continuity of the effects of our international treaties.

UK Trade With EU

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, whether the Government's plans for the UK’s future trading relationship with the EU to provide the same level of access to the European Union as is currently provided to the UK.

Mr Robin Walker: The Government has published its White Paper setting out a clear proposal for the future relationship we want to build with the European Union.This represents a substantial evolution of our proposals towards our future relationship which are of greater scope than any such existing agreement, and reflect our shared history and values, close ties, and unique starting point.The Government’s proposals for its future economic relationship with the EU strikes a new and fair balance of rights and obligations. It sets out a UK-EU trade area for goods to ensure continued frictionless access at the border to each other's markets, underpinned by an upfront commitment to a common rulebook on goods, including agri-food and a Facilitated Customs Arrangement to avoid customs checks and controls at our border. It further proposes a comprehensive package for services and digital minimising new barriers to trade whilst acknowledging UK and EU service suppliers will not enjoy the same rights as they do today.Our proposals recognise that the UK will not have the same levels of market access as it currently does, but we are committed to securing the best possible future trading relationship - one that works for the UK and for the EU.

Members: Correspondence

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, when he plans to respond to the letter of 12 April 2018 from British in Europe.

Mr Robin Walker: I [Robin Walker MP] met with representatives from British in Europe and the3Million groups on 17 October, where the letter and wider concerns were discussed. During the meeting I reassured both groups of the Government’s commitment to the citizens’ rights deal as set out in the Withdrawal Agreement. I reminded them that citizens’ rights has been our first priority since the very beginning of this process. I will write in follow up to our meeting shortly.The letter by British in Europe was posted on their website and sent to officials rather than to Ministers. This letter related to technical questions regarding specific provisions of the Withdrawal Agreement.

Innovation and Science

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, pursuant to the Answer of 27 September 2018 to Question 171405, in which negotiation rounds science and innovation has been discussed since March 2018; and in which forthcoming rounds science and innovation will be discussed.

Mr Robin Walker: Two rounds of negotiations have taken place on Science and Innovation, the first on 22 May 2018 where we presented our slides on the 'Framework for the UK-EU Partnership on Science, Research and Innovation’. The second round was on 7 June 2018 where the Commission presented the programme regulations for Horizon Europe to the UK.The White Paper set out that the UK is committed to establishing a far-reaching science and innovation accord with the EU as part of our future relationship. As part of this accord, the UK would like to explore association to EU research funding programmes, including Horizon Europe and the Euratom R&T Programme.

Delegated Legislation

Mr Steve Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, pursuant to the Answer of 16 October 2018 to Question 178290 on Delegated Legislation, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the rate at which each Department is laying statutory instruments on EU exit domestic preparedness compared with the rate required to deliver a functioning statute book on the day that the UK leaves the EU; and if he will make a statement.

Chris Heaton-Harris: As stated in my response to question 178290, the Government remains confident of having a functioning statute book in place by exit day whatever the outcome of negotiations. We expect a significant increase to the rate that these are laid over the coming months.

EU Countries: British Nationals Abroad

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what discussions his Department has had with his counterparts in other EU member states on (a) the right to work, (b) access to social security and (c) accessing UK based pensions in the EU if the UK leaves the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

Chris Heaton-Harris: The Prime Minister has been clear that in the unlikely event that we reach March 2019 without agreeing a deal, we want EU citizens to stay in the UK and their rights will be protected.Ministers and Ambassadors have been engaging with their counterparts across the EU to stress that we would expect the same treatment for UK nationals in the EU, in the unlikely event we do not reach an agreement with the EU. Most recently Minister Robin Walker stressed this in his engagements in France and Spain.

Department for International Trade

Trade Agreements

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether he has plans to include in future trade deals provisions in relation to currency manipulation.

George Hollingbery: The Government is working with countries across the world to explore the best ways to develop our current trade and investment relationships and ensure that the United Kingdom becomes a global leader in free trade once we leave the European Union.We are exploring all options in the design of future trade agreements and are committed to an inclusive and transparent trade policy. As part of this commitment, we launched public consultations on possible future trade agreements with the United States, Australia and New Zealand, and on the UK potentially seeking accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). These consultations are open for 14 weeks and will close at 23:59 on 26 October 2018.We are not yet in a position therefore to comment on specific proposals, such as possible provisions covering currency manipulation.

Foreign Investment in UK: North of England

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what recent steps have been taken to attract international investment in the Northern Powerhouse.

Graham Stuart: In 2016 the Department for International Trade (DIT) established a dedicated taskforce to deliver bespoke activity to attract foreign investment into the Northern Powerhouse. This activity includes: full profiling of the offer in key sectors for the region and showcasing these at events overseas; working with DIT’s overseas network, and local partners across the North, to deliver bespoke activity to promote the region as a destination for investment; international promotion of a portfolio of Northern capital investment opportunities; and provision of funding for the account management of existing foreign investors by local partners.

Overseas Trade: USA

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what recent discussions he has had with his US counterpart on UK consumer and food standards regulations which meet the US Trade Priorities and Accountability Act definition of an unjustified (a) sanitary or (b) phytosanitary restriction and (c) an unjustified technical barrier.

George Hollingbery: My Rt Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Trade has spoken on numerous occasions to the United States Trade Representative, and there have been four meetings of the UK-US Trade and Investment Working Group to date, involving discussions between representatives of the governments of the United Kingdom and the United States on a range of matters. We cannot negotiate any trade agreements whilst we are still members of the EU.Any future trade agreements must work for UK producers, businesses, and consumers, and uphold the UK’s high levels of food safety, animal welfare standards, and environmental protection.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

5G

Mr Ranil Jayawardena: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether he will make it his policy to ensure that mobile operators share a proportion of the 5G radio spectrum with local communities that seek to build and deploy 5G base stations.

Margot James: In the Future Telecoms Infrastructure Review, the Government set out that spectrum sharing might enable more efficient use of spectrum and could help to maximise the potential benefits of 5G to the UK. The design of auctions to assign spectrum for 5G or other services is a matter for Ofcom, the UK's independent spectrum regulator which is accountable to parliament

Sports: Finance

Gavin Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to ensure that funding allocated from the public purse to sporting bodies throughout the UK is spent by those bodies in a (a) legal, (b) non-discriminating and (c) non-political manner.

Tracey Crouch: Government's Arms Length Bodies (ALBs), including the four DCMS Sport ALBs (Sport England, UK Sport, the Sports Ground Safety Authority and UK Anti-Doping), have to comply with the Treasury's publication Managing Public Money. They are also subject to various other spending controls which set out how they should allocate and govern their funding. ALBs are audited annually to ensure that they are complying with these controls. When allocating funding, ALBs must also comply with relevant equality legislation. Government's Sporting Future strategy sets out the principles and priorities by which sport bodies should invest their funding. Furthermore, A Code for Sports Governance was published in October 2016 and sets out the levels of transparency, accountability, diversity and financial integrity required from all organisations that receive Government and National Lottery investment.

Internet: Security

Jo Platt: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the Government's press release of 14 October 2018, Leading tech companies support code to strengthen security of internet-connected devices, what account was taken of the proposed EU Cybersecurity Act during the drafting of the code of practice.

Margot James: The Code was drafted throughout 2017 and 2018 in cooperation with industry, consumer groups and academia. DCMS has engaged with EU bodies and Member States throughout that period and has led on the negotiations of the EU Cybersecurity Act on behalf of the UK. Those negotiations have been informed by our Secure by Design programme. We have recently begun the process of developing a global standard through the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) based on our Code of Practice and through that process we are engaging with numerous EU industry and government partners. The proposed EU Cybersecurity Act promotes the use of such internationally recognised standards. DCMS are reviewing options to create a voluntary labelling scheme for consumer Internet of Things (IoT) products to aid consumer-purchasing decisions. We are working closely with other international governments and EU institutions to share evidence.

Cybercrime: Business

Jo Platt: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to his Department's document, Cyber Security Breach Survey 2017, published in April 2017, how many businesses he estimates are aware of the Cyber Essentials programme.

Margot James: The Cyber Breaches Survey 2018 reported that, of the 5.7 million businesses in the UK, nine per cent of all businesses were aware of the Cyber Essentials scheme. This level rising to 23 per cent within medium sized firms and 37 per cent in large firms. The Cyber Essentials scheme provides the basic controls all organisations should implement to protect themselves against the most common internet based threats. The scheme is part of the broader suite of Government guidance and support on cyber security. This includes the Cyber Security: Small Business Guide launched in October 2017, which provides quick, easy and low-cost cyber security advice to small businesses; Ten Steps to Cyber Security guidance, which shows organisations how to manage cyber risk and prevent attacks; and the Cyber Aware campaign, which offers practical advice to small businesses, encouraging employees and customers to adopt simple, protective cyber security measures.

Autonomous Weapons: Artificial Intelligence

Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether the remit of the forthcoming Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation will include the role of artificial intelligence in autonomous weapons systems.

Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Defence on the potential risks associated with the creation of lethal autonomous weapons systems.

Margot James: The UK Government is establishing the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation to identify the measures needed to strengthen and improve the way in which data and AI is used, which will include promoting best practice and advising on how to address potential gaps in the regulatory landscape. The Centre is being established in the first instance in an interim form, following a public consultation on its remit and activities. The content and prioritisation of its work programme will be determined in dialogue with government once it is operational later this year. The Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has not had recent discussions with the Secretary of State for Defence on this matter, however officials from both departments meet to discuss these and related AI issues.

Internet: Standards

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what progress his Department has made on ensuring every household has the Universal Service Obligation of 10 mbps in internet speed by 2020.

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether his Department's plans for a Universal Service Obligation of 10 mbps in internet speed by 2020 includes homes with exchange only lines.

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what support is being provided to local authorities to ensure that the Universal Service Obligation of a minimum download speed of 10 mbps by 2020 will be met.

Margot James: The broadband Universal Service Obligation (USO) will give everyone across the UK, including those that are connected via local exchange only lines, a clear enforceable right to request high speed broadband subject to a reasonable cost threshold. Following a consultation in 2017, the design for the USO was set out in secondary legislation in March 2018 and the consultation response published online. Ofcom is now responsible for implementing the USO, including designating the Universal Service Provider(s), and the design of an industry cost sharing fund. Following a call for expressions of interest, Ofcom published a consultation on 13 September seeking views on proposals for the process of designating a Universal Service Provider. Ofcom will also consider the wider USO aspects, including the identification of Universal Service Provider(s) and the regulatory obligations which will apply to them, in a further consultation later this year. Ofcom, rather than Local Authorities, is responsible for enforcing the broadband USO.

Charities

Mr Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the effect of anti-advocacy clauses in government contracts on the effectiveness of (a) large and (b) small charities; and if he will make a statement.

Tracey Crouch: We believe charities and social enterprises should be fully confident in their right to speak in public debates, and to have a strong campaigning and advocacy role. The government has not made an assessment on the effect of anti-advocacy clauses in government contracts on charities.

Northern Ireland Office

Cross Border Cooperation: Northern Ireland

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, if she will ensure that the six areas of cross-border cooperation outlined in the Good Friday Agreement continue to be aligned in the event of a no-deal scenario.

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, if the Government will ensure the ongoing alignment of the six areas of cross-border cooperation set out in the Good Friday Agreement in the event that the backstop arrangement for the Northern Ireland border comes into force.

Mr Shailesh Vara: We are committed to the Belfast Agreement in all its parts, including the institutions and areas of cross-border cooperation set up following the Agreement, no matter what the outcome of the negotiations.

Integrated Schools: Northern Ireland

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, pursuant to the Answer of 16 October 2018 to Question 178377, what assessment she has made of the effect on the five integrated schools that were given approval to proceed to planning in March 2016 of the delay in announcing a second tranche of Fresh Start Agreement funding.

Mr Shailesh Vara: The UK Government is committed to providing a contribution of up to £500m over 10 years of new capital funding to support integrated and shared education and housing in Northern Ireland.Both the Treasury and Northern Ireland Office have been liaising with the Northern Ireland Civil Service in order to secure the necessary assurances to allow a second tranche of shared and integrated education projects to progress at the earliest possible opportunity.The UK Government has already made an initial announcement in March 2016 of funding to support construction and help advance planning a range of projects to deliver on this commitment. A further bid for funding has been submitted and the UK government is considering this. With regards to this funding to further support the expansion of shared and integrated education, I hope the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland will be able to make an announcement on the outcome of this funding request in due course.

Women and Equalities

Civil Partnerships: Heterosexuality

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, when she plans to bring forward legislative proposals on the extension of civil partnerships to heterosexual couples.

Victoria Atkins: On 2 October the Prime Minister announced that we would extend the availability of civil partnerships to opposite-sex couples.This important step for equality will give families more certainty and security, and we intend to introduce legislation as soon as possible.